HTC Corp (宏達電) yesterday saw its quarterly losses widen to a record NT$9.81 billion (US$336.5 million) last quarter as it struggled to revamp its product portfolio after losing its edge in the competitive smartphone arena.
That marked the 11th consecutive money-losing quarter for the former smartphone A-lister around the globe. The company has been shifting its focus and allocating more resources to virtual-reality (VR) devices, hoping it would lead to a turnaround.
HTC attributed the quarterly loss to intensifying market competition, an unfavorable product lineup and lower average selling prices.
An unspecified inventory impairment loss added to the already poor financial performance.
For the full year, the company posted a loss of NT$16.91 billion, or NT$20.58 per share, more than twice its capital of NT$8.2 billion, it said in a filing with the Taiwan Stock Exchange.
That compares with a loss of NT$10.56 billion in 2016 and a loss of NT$15.53 billion in 2015.
Over the past three years, HTC’s accumulated losses totaled NT$43 billion.
The company’s divestment of its Pixel smartphone team to Alphabet Inc’s Google for US$1.1 billion in January might offer some relief to the company’s weak financials in the first quarter of the year.
With the capital injection, HTC said it would continue to build its VR ecosystem to grow its Vive business and invest in other emerging technologies, including the Internet of Things, augmented reality and artificial intelligence.
However, the road to a recovery promises to be tough, with the company reporting earlier this month that its combined sales in the first two months of the year fell 35.54 percent annually to NT$6.01 billion.
HTC shares fell 1.41 percent to NT$63 in Taipei trading yesterday, underperforming the TAIEX, which gained 0.15 percent.
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