Mobile phone maker Sony Ericsson said today it had plunged deep into the red in the third quarter with a net loss of 25 million euros ($33.7 million), but its sales volumes beat analysts' expectations.
A year earlier, the Japanese-Swedish group had posted a net profit of 267 million euros.
"As expected the third quarter has continued to be challenging for Sony Ericsson," company chief executive Dick Komiyama said in the earnings statement.
In the July-September period, the company reported an operating income loss of 33 million euros after posting a 393 million gain a year earlier, blaming the nose-dive largely on falling prices for its mobile devices.
Sony Ericsson booked sales of 2.8 billion euros in the third quarter, a 10-per cent drop from the 3.1 billion it posted a year earlier.
The company also saw the number of phones sold during the quarter slip slightly to 25.7 million from 25.9 million a year earlier, but the figure was a slight improvement over the second quarter, when 24.4 million devices flew off the shelves.
While the figures appear glum, Swedish analyst Jan Sworsky pointed out to the Dow Jones financial news wire that they were better than in the second quarter and that the sales volumes especially beat expectations.
Sony Ericsson, which is not quoted on the stock market, was formed in 2001 through the merger of Ericsson of Sweden, world leader in mobile phone networks, and Japanese electronics giant Sony.
Following the announcement, Ericsson meanwhile saw its stock price soar 7.11 per cent in early morning trading in a market up on average nearly three per cent.
