Sony Ericsson this morning reported a fifth straight quarterly loss on lower demand for its handsets and announced new financing. The joint handset venture of Ericsson and Sony announced a net loss of EUR164 million for the July to September period, compared to a net loss of EUR25 million a year ago. This was caused by a 42 percent year-on-year fall in net sales, to EUR1.62 billion. It shipped 14.1 million handsets in the third-quarter, a 45 percent fall year-on-year but a slight improvement on the 13.8 million units shipped in the second-quarter this year.

“Transforming the business for future growth and returning Sony Ericsson to profitability is the focus of the senior management team and will continue under the new leadership,” noted outgoing president, Dick Komiyama, in a statement. Ericsson VP Bert Nordberg is the new head man. Komiyama noted that the vendor has refreshed its brand in preparation of its soon-to-be-launched Aino and Satio products, and has also arranged external credit totalling EUR455 million, partly guaranteed by its parent companies. The company repeated its forecast for a decline of about 10 percent in the global handset market this year. It claimed a market share of around 5 percent in the third quarter.