HTC posts record-low quarterly profit

Company's unaudited net profit stands at T$85 mn in Jan-March quarter, compared with T$1 bn in the prior quarter

HTC Corp  reported a record-low quarterly profit on Monday that missed analysts' estimates after the delayed launch of its 2013 flagship smartphone model further undermined sales amid tough competition from Samsung Electronics and Apple.

The Taiwanese smartphone maker said its unaudited net profit was T$85 million in its January-March first quarter, compared with T$1 billion in the prior quarter and T$10.9 billion in the same period last year. It was the lowest since HTC began reporting quarterly profits in 2004.

HTC was expected to post a net profit of T$467.5 million, according to the average forecast of 18 analysts polled by Thomson Reuters I/B/E/S.

First-quarter revenue was T$42.8 billion, lower than the T$50-60 billion range that HTC had forecast in February. Revenue in the fourth quarter was T$60 billion.

HTC rolled out its latest smartphone, the HTC One, in just three countries last month, instead of in 80 countries as it had originally planned. The company said HTC One sales would not kick off before the end of April across Europe, North America and the Asia-Pacific region.

HTC was the world's 10th-biggest smartphone maker by shipments in the fourth quarter, according to IT research firm Gartner, jostling in a crowded field behind the top-two heavyweights Samsung Electronics  and Apple .

Shares of HTC have lost more than half of their value in the past 12 months, underperforming a slight rise in Taiwan's main TAIEX index. On Monday, HTC shares closed down 2.2 % before the earnings were released, compared with a 2.4 % fall in the main index.