Motorola 3Q07: progress!!

Motorola was under review after recent profit warning and turmoil in its mobile handset division. If 3Q07 net profit continues to slip (down 94%) to $60m, with sales also down 17% to $8.8bn, it is the first profit since the beginning of the year, marking a return to profitability and slight recovery. Mobile phones sales were down 36% to $4.5bn, but are up 5% qoq, and division loss of $138 is narrowing and “only” half 2Q07 loss. Motorola shipped over 37m units in the quarter, but continues losing ground to Nokia and Samsung and holding now only 13% market share. The Home and Networks Mobility segment posted revenues of $2.4bn, up 6%, while the operating profit was $165m, down 29%. The Enterprise Mobility Solutions division had sales of $2bn, up 47%, and an operating profit of $336m, up 20%.

So results are encouraging, but the road is still long for a complete recovery. Current results allow at least current management to properly execute its restructuring plan.