Motorola: Following three quarters of losses turned a profit for the most recent quarter

[AFP] Motorola, the largest US mobile phone maker, rebounded from three straight quarters of losses and posted a small quarterly net profit on Thursday.

The Schaumburg, Illinois-based company reported a net profit of 26 million dollars in the second quarter of the year compared with a net profit of four million dollars a year ago.

Motorola posted a net loss of 231 million dollars in the first quarter.

Earnings per share of one cent in the second quarter were better than expected by analysts who had forecast a loss of four cents per share.

Revenue during the quarter which ended on July 4 fell 32 percent to 5.49 billion dollars.

Motorola's mobile phone division cut its operating loss in half compared with the first quarter. It rang up a second-quarter operating loss of 253 million dollars on revenue which fell 45 percent to 1.8 billion dollars.

"In Mobile Devices, we improved the operating loss, reflecting a lower cost structure, and substantially reduced cash consumption as compared to the first quarter," Motorola co-chief executive Sanjay Jha said in a statement.

"We have agreements in place with carriers and remain on track to bring our new smartphone devices to market for the holiday selling season," said Jha, who is also CEO of the Mobile Devices division.

Motorola said it shipped 14.8 million handsets in the quarter, a slight increase from 14.7 million the first quarter, giving it an estimated global handset market share of 5.5 percent

Motorola said it expects to again post earnings per share of one cent in the current quarter.

Motorola enjoyed success with its popular Razr phone launched in 2005 but has been losing ground since to Apple and Research in Motion as well as other major cell phone makers such as Nokia, Samsung and Sony Ericsson.

Motorola enjoyed a 17.5 percent share of the handset market two years ago.

Motorola has said it hopes to have devices based on Google's open-source Android operating systems in stores by the fourth quarter of the year.

Motorola shares gained 9.68 percent to 7.48 dollars in early trading on Wall Street.

Motorola rebounds, posts profit