Citing intense competition, price erosion and restructuring charges, Sony Ericsson reported Q4 2011 sales of EUR 1.3 billion, down 16% year-on-year and 19% quarter over quarter. The year-on-year decline reflects the decrease of feature phone sales which was only partially offset by an increase in smartphone sales. There was a net loss of EUR 247 million before taxes.
Average selling price (ASP) for the quarter was Euro 143, up 5% year-on-year but down 14% sequentially. The year-on-year increase is due to the shift to smartphones and geographic mix. The sequential decrease in ASP is attributed to geographic and product mix, including declining prices of products launched earlier in the year, and the absence of new products introduced in the fourth quarter.
The gross margin for the quarter was 24%, a decrease of 6 percentage points year-on-year and 3 percentage points from the previous quarter.
Sony Ericsson estimates that its share of the global Android-based smartphone market was 10% in volume and 7% in value during the quarter and 10% in volume and 10% in value for the full year.
Sony Ericsson estimates that the global smartphone market for the full year 2011 increased by 60% in volume to 463 million units.
http://www.sonyericsson.com
- In October 2011, Sony agreed pay EUR 1.05 billion in cash to acquire Ericsson’s 50 percent stake in Sony Ericsson Mobile Communications AB. The mobile handset vendor will become a wholly-owned subsidiary of Sony when the deal closes in early 2012. Sony said it plans to rapidly integrate smartphones into its broad array of network-connected consumer electronics devices – including tablets, televisions and personal computers.
