New York  -  US electronics concern Motorola Inc. reported Thursday that it suffered a net loss of 194 million dollars in the first quarter of 2008, amid a 21 per cent drop in sales.

The loss surpassed the 181 million dollars in red ink in the first quarter of last year.

Net sales, at just under 7.45 billion dollars, were down 21 per cent from 9.43 billion dollars in the first quarter of 2007, the Schaumburg, Illinois-based maker of telecommunications equipment and mobile phones reported.

Included in the first-quarter sales figure were 3.3 billion dollars in mobile devices, 39 per cent below the first-quarter 2007 period. Mobile devices operating losses surged to
418 million dollars, compared with red-ink of 233 million dollars in the first three months last year, Motorola said.

Also impacting negatively on earnings were costs entailed in workd force reductions, the company said.

For the second quarter, Motorola said it expected losses to continue, but at a lower rate of 2 to 4 US cents per share, compared with the first-quarter loss of 9 cents per share. (dpa)