(Associated Press via NewsEdge) Sony Ericsson reported that its third quarter earnings nearly tripled because of consumer demand for its improved camera and music phones.
The results were scheduled to be released Thursday but a copy of an internal company email detailing the earnings report was sent out Wednesday to Dow Jones Newswires. A copy of that email was seen by The Associated Press.
Afterward, the company made the report available to other media, but not immediately on its Web site.
The world's No. 5 handset maker said in the email that net profit nearly tripled to 298 million euros ($373.78 million) in the quarter that ended September 30, compared to 104 million euros ($130.45 million) in the same quarter last year.
Quarterly sales rose 42% to 2.91 billion euros ($3.65 billion) from 2.05 billion euros ($2.57 billion) a year earlier.
Analysts polled by SME Direkt had predicted a sales increase of 16% to 2.4 billion euros ($3.01 billion).
The numbers caused shares of parent LM Ericsson to rise 5.2% to 27.60 kronor ($3.73) in Stockholm trading.
The London-based company, a joint venture of Japan's Sony and Sweden's LM Ericsson, said the number of handsets shipped rose 43% to 19.8 million in the third quarter, compared with 13.8 million in the same period last year.
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