Sony Ericsson makes another loss

Sony Ericsson announced 2,000 job cuts earlier in the year

Mobile phone manufacturer Sony Ericsson has reported a smaller-than-expected three-month loss.

The company owned by Sweden's Ericsson and Japan's Sony lost 164m euros ($245m; £150m) from July to September.

The losses were better than the net loss of 213m euros made in the previous three months, but wider than the 25m euros in the third quarter of 2008.

The company said the figures were starting to show the effects of its transformation programme.

It announced 2,000 job cuts in April in addition to the 2,000 jobs it had cut the previous year.

Fresh investment

It expects to see the full value of its programme to cut 880m euros a year from its costs in the second half of next year.

Its sales in the third quarter were up 2% from the previous quarter, but down 45% compared with the same period last year.

In its statement, Sony Ericsson said it would be receiving fresh investment backed by its owner companies.

It predicted that the global mobile phone handset market will contract 10% in 2009 from the 1,190 million sold in 2008.

On Thursday, its big rival Nokia reported a net loss of 913m euros for the same period, hit by falling sales and one-off items.

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