Weak sales cause Motorola profit warning

Motorola has blamed weak sales in Europe after issuing a profits warning for the second quarter of 2007. The world’s second biggest mobile phone manufacturer has already announced it is cutting 7,500 jobs this year.

The company, which until recently was enjoying a resurgence that saw it make ground on market leader Nokia, also says it is likely to make a loss for the whole of 2007.

It adds that sales for the second quarter – April to June – will be less than $8.7bn (£4.3bn). It had previously forecast sales for the period of about $9.4bn (£4.6bn).

Phone shipments for the second quarter fell to 36 million from 45.4 million in the first three months of the year. Analysts are now predicting that chief executive Ed Zander could step down.

Motorola has been criticised for failing to replace its iconic Razr phone. Earlier this year, the company’s European marketing director Simon Thompson left after just a year to join Lastminute.com as chief marketing officer.