STOCKHOLM -(Dow Jones)- Sweden's Telefon AB LM Ericsson (ERICY) and Sony Corp.'s (SNE) joint venture Sony Ericsson Mobile Communications AB Tuesday said fourth quarter pretax profit was EUR140 million, compared with EUR46 million during the same period in 2003.
Analysts had expected pretax profits to be EUR165 million.
A total of 12.6 million units were shipped in the fourth quarter, up from eight million the year before.
This gave sales of EUR2.01 billion, compared with EUR1.44 billion in 2003. Analysts were expecting EUR1.92 billion.
The company said it experienced a strong quarter led by consumer demand for the V800 series and Z1010 3G UMTS phones, as well as GSM models like the S700, K700 and K500 series.
During the quarter Sony Ericsson increased investment in brand and product development, while the average selling price increased sequentially to EUR160.
"The fourth quarter continued a trend of expansion in both volume and sales, showing the company's ability to effectively compete in this dynamic market," said Miles Flint, president of Sony Ericsson. "Strong growth in the fourth quarter was led by good uptake of our latest 3G UMTS phone which has laid the groundwork for future expansion of our 3G portfolio."
During the fourth quarter, Sony Ericsson launched a new entry-level GSM product, the J200, for the Asia Pacific and Chinese markets, and introduced the Vodafone V800 and V802SE UMTS phones for the global and Japanese markets.
The company also said it announced the entry-level T290 which will start shipping globally during the first quarter, and signed an agreement with Sharp Corp. (6753.TO) in relation to the co-development of 3G software for NTT DoCoMo Inc. (DCM) in Japan.
In addition, Sony Ericsson announced a global sports sponsorship with the Women's Tennis Association Tour at the beginning of January."
Posted to the site on 18th January 2005
Posted to: www.cellular-news.com/story/11718.php