Friday 15 March 2013

HTC Profit Plunges 91% In Smartphone War - Sky News

HTC is losing the smartphone sales war, with its devices continuing to be outsold by Apple's iPhone and Samsung's Galaxy range.

The Taiwanese firm, whose phones include the Butterfly, said net profit in the fourth quarter of 2012 had missed forecasts and plunged 91% year on year.

HTC's unaudited net profit for the October to December period was $34.47m (£21.47m), down from $379.84m (£236.67m) in the same period a year earlier and $134.44m (£83.72m) in the previous quarter.

HTC, the world's fifth-largest smartphone maker, did not elaborate.

Eighteen analysts had forecast a net profit of $50.67m (£31.55m) in the quarter, according to a Thomson Reuters survey.

Last week, market research firm Strategy Analytics predicted Samsung would continue to dominate the smartphone market.

It said there would be a clash between the South Korean firm and its US rival this year, with Apple trying to claw back the lower end of the market with a cheaper "iPhone mini".

Meanwhile, Sharp, which makes Aquos brand TVs among other products, is projecting an operating profit in the October-March second half of its business year.

That would unlock additional funds from banks, after the struggling Japanese company won a $4.4bn (£2.7bn) bailout from its lenders in October.

Sharp had warned in November that it might not be able to survive on its own after doubling its full-year net loss forecast to $5.6bn (£3.49bn).

Company president Takashi Okuda said the firm had been benefiting from higher revenues from large household appliances and a slight upturn in LCD TV sales.

Sharp shares lost more than half their value in the 2012 calendar year against a 23% rise in the Nikkei index.

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