HTC's financial crisis deepens with a fifth straight quarterly loss reported in Q2 2019
HTC may have ended the year's second quarter on an unusually high note, but the 94 percent June revenue increase compared to the previous month was not enough to stop the bleeding. After crunching the numbers, the Taiwan-based company has just released its official Q2 2019 financial report, with net losses reaching NT$2.23 billion ($70 million), up from NT$2.09 billion during the same period last year.
On the bright side, the faltering tech giant did lose slightly less money between April and June 2019 than the first three months of the year, despite generating a lower revenue of NT$2.81 billion (compared to NT$2.94 billion). Interestingly, while HTC's losses grew slightly year-on-year, its overall revenue score practically fell off a cliff, from NT$6.8 billion back in Q2 2018.
That means the company's gross margin is up from 2.7 percent and 14.7 percent in Q2 2018 and Q1 2019 respectively to 20.3 percent, marking the sixth consecutive quarterly improvement. Unfortunately, the April - June 2019 timeframe was also the fifth consecutive quarter of heavy net losses for this Android pioneer, which is showing little to no sign of a recovery.
Last week, the company posted a paltry NT$0.44 billion ($14 million) in July revenue, down sharply from NT$1.46 billion in June and NT$1.4 billion last July. It's hard to believe HTC will be able to generate the tiniest profit anytime soon, although the revival of the once-popular Wildfire brand could be the beginning of a Nokia-style comeback.
For its part, the company is not touting any ambitious objectives in its latest financial summary, merely highlighting a "continued commitment" to the important mobile segment with the recently released U19e and Desire 19+ mid-range smartphones.
FCC OKs Cingular\'s purchase of AT&T Wireless
Things that are NOT allowed: