Mobile telephone maker Sony Ericsson on Friday posted a loss for first-quarter 2009, in line with a profit warning it issued last month and announced further job cuts, according to DPA. The pre-tax loss excluding restructuring costs was 358 million euros (473 million dollars), the group said. The net loss was 293 million euros compared to a net profit of 133 million euros in first-quarter 2008. Turnover declined 36 per cent year-on-year to 1.73 billion euros due to "continued weak consumer confidence and de-stocking in the retail and distribution channels," the group said. The Sony Ericsson joint venture was formed in 2001 between Sweden's Ericsson and Japan's Sony. Ericsson share-price was up some 2 per cent mid-morning on the Stockholm bourse. Some 2,000 employees were to be cut from the workforce as Sony Ericsson management planned further cost savings of 400 million euros that were to be carried out by mid-2010. The group has some 10,000 employees worldwide. Chief Executive Dick Komiyama later told analysts in a conference call that it was too early to determine where the job cuts would be made, describing the quarter as "difficult." The group has just cut 2,000 positions as part of earlier cost-cutting measures, and has some 4,500 employees in Sweden. The group said it delivered some 14.5 million handsets during the first quarter of 2009, down 35 per cent year-on-year. The group estimated it had 6 per cent of the global handset market. Kamiyama said Sony Ericsson forecast that the global market would decline some 10 per cent during 2009, echoing an estimate presented Thursday by Finnish-based giant Nokia. The average selling price of the group's handsets was 120 euros in the quarter, down 1 per cent on fourth-quarter 2008 when units cost 121 euros. Kamiyama told analysts that Sony Ericsson had "no intention" of marketing cheaper handsets despite losing market shares in Central and Eastern Europe, the Middle East, Africa, India and Latin America.
