Unaudited Q1 results from HTC show 98% decline in net profit
HTC included some preliminary Q1 results in its monthly financial report and the numbers aren’t looking good. After a poor performance in the second half of last year, HTC was hoping the One will help it bounce back up, but difficulties in manufacturing meant that the company had to push back the launch. Only three countries saw the One launch on time.
The net income for HTC in the first quarter was just $2.8 million, a painful 98% drop compared to the year ago quarter. Still, any profit is better than a loss, so it"s not all bad. Revenue for Q1 2013 was $1.4 billion, down 37% over the year ago quarter (which saw $470 million in net income).
An analyst from Taipei-based Daiwa Securities says "HTC One’s production shortage means lost sales in the first quarter will be lost forever, not just delayed," but thinks the One will still launch early enough ahead of the Samsung Galaxy S4 launch to give HTC a "good chance" of posting good second quarter results after six consecutive quarters of declining results.
There’s also the Facebook phone – the HTC First – which targets the social network"s 1+ billion people with a Facebook-made launcher called Home.
Anyway, these are the early unaudited results. We can expect to see the detailed report later on.