Geneva - Logitech announced Thursday losses in its fourth quarter results and said sales stood at 408 million dollars, down 32 percent from the same period last year.

The Swiss company, the largest maker of computer mice in the world, posted an operating loss of 43 million dollars for the quarter, compared to an operating profit of 66 million dollars for the last months of the previous fiscal year.

"The primary cause of the year-on-year decline in our Q4 sales was the economic downturn," said Gerald Quindlen, head of the company, in a statement, but added that his market share seemed stable.

For the full fiscal year sales stood at 2.2 billion dollars, while net income was 107 million dollars compared to net income of 231 million dollars in the prior year.

Profit per share dropped from 1.23 dollars to 59 cents.

In its outlook for the first quarter, Logitech said it expects sales within the range of 300 million to 320 million dollars and that it will take an operating loss between 40 million and 50 million dollars. (dpa)