Shares in Taiwan`s struggling smartphone maker HTC tumbled to their lowest level in more than a decade Monday after the company forecast its biggest-ever quarterly loss owing to weaker-than-expected demand from China.
HTC revised its second quarter guidance late on Friday, with sales predicted to slide to Tw$33 billion-Tw$36 billion ($1.06 billion-$1.16 billion), down sharply from the previous forecast range of Tw$46 billion-Tw$51 billion.
The earlier second quarter forecast, made in April, would have marked an increase from first quarter sales of Tw$41.52 billion.
HTC also wrote off Tw$2.9 billion in idle assets and prepaid expenses, it announced on Friday.
Overall, the company forecast a record quarterly loss of up to Tw$9.94 per share, compared with a minor profit when the previous guidance was released in April.
"The change for revenue outlook is due to slower demand for high-end Android devices, and weaker than forecast sales in China," the company said in a statement on its website.
As a result, HTC shares on Monday fell on the Taiwan Stock Exchange by the daily limit of 10 percent to Tw$83.60, their lowest level since it listed in 2002.
Analysts said the firm faces competition from low-cost Chinese rivals along with tech giants Apple and Samsung.
"As highlighted earlier, HTC`s high-end flagships (M9, M9+) are visibly inferior to the competition, not just to Apple/Samsung, but also to Huawei and Xiaomi to some extent," Jeff Pu of Yuanta Securities Investment Consulting said in a note to clients.
HTC reported net profit of Tw$360 million in the three months to March, lower than the Tw$470 million it recorded in the previous quarter but up from a loss of Tw$1.88 billion in the same period a year ago.
The company suffered its first ever net loss in the third quarter of 2013, as it slipped out of the world`s top 10 mobile phone vendors.
Last year`s launch of the popular M8 model created a fresh buzz around the brand, but analysts have warned that it still has a long way to go before regaining lost ground.