Motorola continued an upbeat 2004 by announcing sharply increased profits in its third quarter earnings today. Revenues were $8.62bn, up from $6.83bn a year ago. Profits rose to $479m. The company had its phone division to thank, shipping more than 23 million units and generating $390m profits on revenues of $3.9bn.

Moto announced a new range of clamshells this month, which should benefit the next quarters earnings. Even the long-troubled semiconductor division, due to be spun-off from its parent, reported a slim profit of $82 million on revenues of $1.4bn. Citing wins in EDGE and push to talk, the infrastructure division made $175m profit on $1.3bn of income.

The earnings statement is packed with the signs of the major restructuring new CEO Ed Zander has instigated, with expenses relating to severance charges, debt retirement and goodwill. However Moto now has around $4bn in cash, up from $1.8bn three months ago.

The healthy results weren't enough to please Wall Street, however, and shares slid 4.8 per cent after the market had closed. ®

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