Motorola says it will make profit in 2002

NEWS Motorola has reported another quarterly loss but expects to turn a profit in calendar 2002, despite saying it will lose money in the first half of the year. The chips-to-phones company recorded a Q4 operating loss of $90m which compares to a profit of $362m for the corresponding three months in 2000. Sales also fell for the period, by 25 per cent to $7.3bn. For the full year - referred to by chairman and CEO Christopher Galvin as "one of the most difficult" and one in which the company cut around a third of its staff - Motorola announced revenue down from $36.8bn to $29.5bn and a net loss of $697 compared to a profit of $2.0bn for 2000. The company's Personal Communications and Global Telecom Solutions divisions were hit particularly hard by the downturn in demand.