Schaumburg, Ill. — Motorola reported lower sales and net earnings for the fourth quarter and indicated that a turnaround in its mobile devices segment will take more time.
Company sales for the quarter, ended Dec. 31, were $9.65 billion, down from $11.79 billion for the previous year’s fourth quarter. Net earnings were $111 million, down from $529 million in the previous year’s final quarter. And Motorola had an operating loss of $19 million for the quarter vs. a profit of $753 million for the previous year.
“We are focused on aggressively rationalizing the company’s cost structure and working to get mobile devices back on track,” said Greg Brown, CEO in a prepared statement. “The recovery in mobile devices will take longer than expected, and there is a lot more work to be done. Our primary focus is on improving profitability and enhancing our product portfolio in this business. At the same time, we are very pleased with the continued strong performance of our home and networks mobility and enterprise mobility solutions businesses.”
In the mobile devices segment, sales were $4.8 billion, down 38 percent compared with the year-ago quarter. The operating loss was $388 million, compared with operating earnings of $341 million in the year-ago quarter. For the full year 2007, sales were $19.0 billion, a 33 percent decrease compared with 2006, and the segment incurred an operating loss of $1.2 billion, compared with operating earnings of $2.7 billion in 2006. During the quarter, the company shipped 40.9 million handsets.
In its home and networks mobility segment, sales were $2.7 billion, up 11 percent compared with the year-ago quarter. Operating earnings decreased to $192 million, compared with operating earnings of $223 million in the year-ago quarter. For the full year 2007, sales were $10.0 billion, a 9 percent increase compared to 2006, and the segment generated operating earnings of $709 million, compared with $787 million in 2006.
In its enterprise mobility solutions segment, sales were $2.1 billion, up 35 percent compared with the year-ago quarter, driven by sales from the Symbol business acquired in early 2007. Operating earnings increased to $451 million, compared with operating earnings of $323 million in the year-ago quarter. For the full year 2007, sales were $7.7 billion, a 43 percent increase compared to 2006, and the segment generated operating earnings of $1.2 billion, compared to $958 million in 2006.
