HTC First Quarter 2009 Earnings Falls 30 Percent On Delayed Shipments

"Taiwanese smartphone maker HTC reported a 30 percent drop in first quarter earnings, as the economic crisis continued to take its toll on mobile phone sales. In a statement today, HTC, best known as the phone manufacturer behind the G1, the first Android phone, said its self-assessed net profit for the three months ended March 31, was NT$4.89 billion ($148 million), down from NT$6.94 billion ($210 million) a year earlier. Still, the earnings were ahead of a Reuters poll of 10 analysts, which had forecast NT$4.64 billion ($140 million). Revenues were down 3.4 percent to NT$31.59 billion ($954 million) in Q1 from NT$32.70 billion ($988 million) a year earlier, missing the company’s forecast in February of sales of NT$33 billion ($997 million). HTC blamed the missed target—which reached 95.7 percent of its forecast—on a delay in product shipments, which were pushed forward to April. Tapei-based KGI Securities analyst Vincent Liao told Dow Jones that the results were “in-line with expectations,” citing weak demand for expensive smartphones and the small number of product launches in the first quarter. Liao said he expected sales to pick up from the second quarter." via moconews.net