Sony Ericsson reveals 358 million euro loss

2000 more jobs to go

17 April 2009 10:24 GMT / By Amy-Mae Elliott

Sony Ericsson has followed Nokia this week in revealing poor financial results for the first quarter of 2009.

14.5 million phones were shipped in the quarter, down 35% compared to the same period of last year, while sales were 1736 million euros, a decrease of 36% from a year ago.

Sony Ericsson's income before taxes for the first financial period of the year came in at a loss of 358 million euros.

"As expected, the first quarter of this year has been extremely challenging for Sony Ericsson due to continued weak global demand. We are aligning our business to the new market reality with the aim of bringing the company back to profitability as quickly as possible", said Dick Komiyama, president, Sony Ericsson.

"The management intends to pursue an additional cost saving program targeting a further annual operating expense reduction of 400 million euros, to be completed by mid-2010".

The cost-cutting, that's on top of measures announced back in January, includes "a further reduction in the global workforce of approximately 2000 people", doubling the amount of jobs lost at the firm.