Of all the different handset makers out there, Sony Ericsson seems to be one the most interesting ones to follow when it comes to the companies financial side. The company which has previously seen huge losses was able to post a €21 million net income during the prior quarter, mainly thanks to tax benefits. With no tax benifits to aid the companies bottom line, the joint venture between Japan’s Sony Electronic and Sweeden’s Ericsson was able to bring in €
11 million ($15.7 million) for their first 2011 quarter which ended on March 31st. The companies operating income was €19 million which faired much better then a forecasted operating loss of €15 million.
With the number of handsets shipped dropping to 8.1 million from 10.5 million of prior quarter, sales fell 19% year-on-year to €1.15 billion. Still, Sony Ericsson was able to pull out a 33% gross margin profit on each unit, versus the 31% from the year prior. With Sony Ericsson fully embracing the Android platform and releasing muliple smartphones, the average selling price of handsets sold rose to €141, up 5% year-on-year.
“On profitability, the results are better than we expected, but that’s because they sold fewer of the more basic feature phones. That explains the volume drop and the ASP increase,” said Hakan Wranne, an analyst at Swedbank.