TOKYO-Second-quarter financial earnings released today by Sony Ericsson Mobile Communications AB and Audiovox Corp. offered further insight into how 2004 might pan out for wireless handset makers.
Sony Ericsson said it shipped 10.4 million units in the quarter, a 55-percent increase from the same quarter last year. Sales were up 34 percent from a year ago to $1.86 billion, and net income stood at $110 million, compared with a loss of $126 million last year.
The company pointed to shipments of new products, including its Z1010 UMTS 3G phone, the K700 high-end multi-media GSM phone and the Premini NTT DoCoMo phone, for its strong results.
Sony Ericsson revised its global market outlook for the year up by 50 million phones, saying it now expects approximately 600 million handsets to ship worldwide this year.
Audiovox, fresh from announcing the first megapixel camera in the U.S. with Sprint PCS, also reported solid results for the second quarter.
The company said net sales were $438.2 million, up more than 45 percent from second-quarter 2003. Net income totaled $3.7 million, compared with $2.1 million a year ago, and earnings per share were 17 cents, compared with 10 cents last year.
For its part, the Audiovox Communications Corp. subsidiary posted net sales of $290.2 million, up more than 53 percent form a year ago. Sales of wireless handsets increased 43.9 percent to 1.596 million units, for which Audiovox credited its camera phones and color displays with CDMA 1x technology. Average selling prices of Audiovox handsets increased to $170 per unit.
Audiovox said it expects its previously announced transaction with UTStarcom Inc. to close during the fourth quarter. Audiovox plans to sell its wireless assets and certain liabilities for $165.1 million to UTStarcom, thereby allowing it to exit the wireless business and focus on the consumer electronics space.
