Foxconn posts surprising $218.3 million loss

“Foxconn International Holdings Ltd., the Hong Kong-listed unit of the Foxconn Technology Group, posted a full-year net loss that was wider than analysts estimated as costs increased and sales shrank,” Joshua Fellman reports for Bloomberg.

“The net loss was $218.3 million, or 3.06 cents a share, compared with net income of $38.6 million, or 0.55 cent, in 2009, Foxconn said in a Hong Kong stock exchange filing yesterday,” Fellman reports. “The mean estimate of seven analysts surveyed by Bloomberg was for a net loss of $202 million.”

Fellman reports, “Foxconn Group increased salaries last year after a spate of suicides prompted clients to investigate working conditions, and is expanding in China’s interior, where costs are lower. The Hong Kong-listed unit is selling its Taiyuan, China, unit to its parent to help reduce fixed costs… Sales at Foxconn International fell to $6.63 billion from $7.21 billion in 2009, according to the statement.”

Read more in the full article here.

17 Comments

  1. The end will justify the means.

    However, this is clearly the kind of grist for the mill PC-centric journalists love to get their hands on. Dollars-to-donuts, we’ll see a story in the next few hours how Apple’s star is on the decline, because the very company who makes all of their wonderful gadgetry is now losing millions of dollars, which equates to Apple losing its position in the market.

    Start the countdown in 3… 2… whuh

      1. See?! They don’t even bother to wait for the word to become official before they start citing market indicators pointing to Apple’s demise.

        Think of the column inches IDG journalists derives from IDCs numbers. It’s nice to have in-house bean counters who can generate reams of analysis based on informed guesswork, creating pie charts, whose color schemes are a perfect match for the storytellers arsenal, which consists of an 8-pack of Crayola crayons!

        Does no one understand irony and sarcasm anymore?

  2. Although Foxcon does produce a lot of Apple devices, most of their work is for PC co.’s like HPQ, Dell, Acer & Lenova. I don’t think Foxcon reported a loss because of low sales for Apple products.

  3. We’re so used to hearing that Apple is selling ’em as fast as they can make ’em that it’s easy to forget large segments of the market are slumping. Still, it’s staggering to think Foxconn can lose money as assemblers-for-hire. It’s not like they have R&D or inventory costs to worry about. And unlike conventional manufacturers, I assume Foxconn gets paid for every item the produce, and not every item that sells…

    1. Have no idea what you mean. Couldn’t find any font size
      icon on this page. What article are you referring to?
      Is this like playing “Where’s Waldo”?

  4. Fact (see latest issue of Wired): Foxconn installed giant “suicide nets” around the perimeter of their massive building roof in China. On site suicides are down dramatically!

    Maybe they should install them where the fatcats work.

    Go to iTunes and check out Manufactured Landscapes to see what life is like in one of those sweatshops.

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