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Creative swings to Q4 loss, eyes Q1 breakeven |
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Friday, 12 August 2005 |
Creative
swings to Q4 loss, eyes Q1 breakeven
Reuters.uk - UK
SINGAPORE (Reuters) - Creative Technology Ltd., whose Nomad and Zen music
players aim to compete with Apple's iPod, swung to a wider-than-expected
quarterly loss after price competition sapped margins, sending its shares down 5
percent. The Singapore-based firm said on Thursday it expected to return to the
black by year-end with the launch of two new MP3 players with photo and video
capabilities, despite market concerns of tougher competition and ballooning
inventory.
"We believe we can get closer to break-even in the current quarter and that we
can return to profitability by the end of this calendar year," Craig McHugh, the
president of Creative Labs Inc., the firm's U.S. unit, told analysts in a
conference call.
Nasdaq-listed Creative posted a net loss of $31.9 million, or 38 U.S. cents per
share, in its fiscal fourth quarter ended June 30, against a net profit of $6.6
million, or 8 cents per share, a year ago.
The shortfall was larger than an average net loss forecast of $7.2 million from
six analysts polled by Reuters.
Excluding an investment gain of $9.3 million, Creative said it had a quarterly
loss of $41.2 million, or 49 cents per share.
The company wrote off $20 million of excess stock in the quarter, and gross
margins plunged to 10.1 percent from 32.9 percent a year ago.
"Even though we increased overall revenues 50 percent year-over-year, the
lower-than-expected selling prices for MP3 players and the inventory write-down
negatively impacted gross margins," McHugh said.
Creative shares tumbled as much as 6.4 percent in Singapore to a one-month low
of S$11.70 after the opening bell on its larger-than-expected net loss. It later
recovered to S$11.90.
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