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April 17 2006
SONY ERICSSON REPORTS SALES OF 1992 EURO
IN Q1 2006
Q1 Highlights:
- Strong sales & volume growth
- Expansion of portfolio at all price
points
- Income before tax Euro 151 million -
115% year-on-year increase
The consolidated financial summary for
Sony Ericsson Mobile Communications AB (Sony Ericsson) for the first
quarter ended March 31, 2006 is as follows:
Q1 2005 Q4 2005 Q1 2006
Numbers of units shipped (million) 9.4
16.1 13.3
Sales (EURO m.) 1289 2310 1992
Income before taxes (EURO m.) 70 206 151
Net income (EURO m.) 32 144 109
Units shipped in the quarter reached
13.3 million, a 41% increase compared to the same period last year,
higher than general market growth but down 17% sequentially. Sales for
the quarter were Euro 1,992 million, representing a year-on-year
increase of 55%. Income before taxes was Euro 151 million, which
represents a year-on-year increase of 115%. Net income more than tripled
year-on- year to Euro 109 million.
Earlier increases in R&D investment
enabled Sony Ericsson to announce more new products during the first
quarter than in previous years. These products included a further three
WalkmanŽ phones; the tri-band edge W810, the high-end W950 with 4GB
flash memory, and the mass market W300 clamshell. Building upon the
success of bringing Sony's very popular WalkmanŽ brand to the mobile
phone, Sony Ericsson also announced the K800 and K790, flagship 3.2
megapixel imaging phones and the first Cyber-shot(TM) branded phones in
the portfolio. Average Selling Price (ASP) rose 4% to Euro 149,
reflecting the greater proportion of higher-end products entering the
product mix due to the new phones for both KDDI and NTT DoCoMo in Japan.
In GSM markets a number of lower priced
handsets such as the Z300, J230, J220 started to ramp up and ship. In
Japan, NTT DoCoMo announced and started shipping Sony Ericsson's first
FOMA(TM) phone, the SO902i, and KDDI launched the W41S, an EV-DO handset
with Sony's FeliCa* multi-purpose IC card technology.
Growth in the global handset market
continued to outpace earlier expectations, and Sony Ericsson now
forecasts the global market outlook for 2006 to be over 900 million
units. Our previous guidance was 10% growth versus estimated 2005 market
volumes of about 780 million units.
In March, Sony Ericsson strengthened its
strategy of focusing on compelling consumer mobile solutions through
innovative mobile phones, accessories and PC cards by signing an
agreement to sell its business-to-business Telemetry and Automotive M2M
business units to Wavecom.
"The first quarter has seen Sony Ericsson
announce a host of exciting products which address a wide variety of
consumer needs and lifestyle choices. We have announced flagship models
in our three key strategic areas: music, imaging and enterprise, and
feel well positioned to deliver an enhanced user experience at all price
points of our portfolio. The W800, W550 and W600 WalkmanŽ phones were
big sellers during the quarter and we have now sold 5.5 million WalkmanŽ
branded phones since mid-August, proving the success of our mobile music
strategy. With a total of eight WalkmanŽ phones now announced or
shipping, plus the introduction of new Cyber-shot(TM) imaging phones, we
are beginning to deliver the differentiation in our product portfolio
which Sony Ericsson promised at the start of the joint venture," said
Miles Flint, President of Sony Ericsson.
The Shareholders decided on a dividend of
Euro 247 million paid to the parent companies on March 30, 2006.
FOMA(TM) is a trademark of NTT DoCoMo,
Inc. in Japan and other countries.
*FeliCa is Sony's contactless IC card
technology, providing advantage of multi-applications in a single card,
as well as high security features and processing speed.
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