THE WORD | INDUSTRY NEWS
Sony Ericsson, the mobile
Panasonic recorded a pre-tax loss of ¥350 billion for the 3 months ending 31 December, the Corporation’s third fiscal quarter, and warned that the net loss for the full year to 31 March 2012 will be a record ¥780 billion. The TV and Mobile Phones segment reported losses of ¥32.7 billion, compared to a ¥101.2 billion profit the year before. Home Appliances fared better, with sales up 1% to ¥979.2 billion and a profit ¥78.6 billion.
telephone company that Sony is shortly due to take full ownership of by acquiring Ericsson’s 50% share for €1.05 billion, posted a pre-tax loss of €207 million for the final quarter of 2011. Full-year figures showed a net loss of €247 million compared to a profit of €8 million Euros in the previous year.
Apple recorded a record-breaking quarterly net profit of £8.36 billion for the three months to 31 December 2011, 118% up on the same period in 2010. 37 million iPhones were sold in the period, a 100% increase on last year. Waning sales of the iPod (down 21%) were more than compensated by a 111% increase in iPad sales and a 26% increase in sales of Mac computers.
Samsung announced full year 2011 revenue at an all-time high of 165 trillion won, up 7% from the previous year. Net income registered 13.73 trillion won, down 15% compared with 2010, while operating profit, at 16.25 trillion won, declined 6%. Philips Electronics confirmed a net loss of €160 million (£134 million) for the last three months of 2011, and a loss for the whole year of €1.29 billion. This is the first annual loss recorded by the group since 2008.
BSkyB reported pre-tax profits up 27% in the last six months of 2011, compared to the same period in 2010, with sales largely driven by TV, telephone and broadband packages to existing customers. Sky said its annual revenue per customer increased from £536 to £544, and churn rate has been kept down to 10%.
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GET CONNECTED JAN/FEB 2012
Electrolux posted Q4 earnings just
Amazon announced that, despite a 35% increase in revenues in the three months to December 31st 2011, net income took a sharp drop, down to $177 million for the quarter, compared to $416 million in the same quarter of 2010. The company warned that it may show a loss in the first three months of 2012 as it continues to invest in Kindle products. LG Electronics reported a net loss of KRW 112 billion in Q4 earnings, down from a loss of KRW 414 billion in Q3. Sales in the quarter increased 7.1% to KRW 13.8 trillion, compared to KRW 12.9 trillion in Q3. A total net loss of KRW 433 billion was posted for fullyear 2011. Sony reported a bigger-thanexpected net loss of ¥159 billion (£1.3 billion) for the 3 months ended 31 December 2011, against a profit of ¥72 billion in the same quarter of 2010. Sales were down 17%. The company has now forecast a loss of ¥220 billion for the full financial year to end of March 2012, a sharp increase on the loss of ¥90 billion forecast in November.
ahead of forecast and said it expected flat or falling demand in the European market this year. Overall sales in the quarter rose to SEK28.34 billion, up from SEK27.56 billion a year earlier. The company reported adjusted earnings before interest and tax of SEK1.44 billion, down from last year’s SEK1.71. Net sales for the full year 2011 declined 4% (up 1.9% in comparable currencies) to SEK101.59 billion.
Virgin Media posted annual net income of £76 million in 2011, the first time a full-year profit has been achieved. In the final quarter to 31 December, strong demand for its TiVo television service and broadband products drove profit to £48.2 million, reversing the previous quarter’s loss of £73.8 million. Whirlpool posted Q4 net earnings of $205 million compared to $171 million during the same period last year. Sales slipped to $4.9 billion from $5.0 billion as improved price/mix was offset by unfavourable currency and lower industry demand. An operating profit of $205 million compared with $202 million in the prior year was recorded. Full-year 2011 sales reached $18.7 billion, up 2% on 2010, while operating profit totalled $792 million, down from $1.0 billion.