SonyEricsson: "Please sir, can I have some more?"

SonyEricsson may need additional funding of up to E500m from its parent companies next year, according to reports.

The mobile handset maker yesterday chose to focus on establishing operations in China, including an R&D facility in Beijing, while Ericsson revealed further details about its rights issue, announced last month and intended to raise 30 billion kronor (£2.1bn).

However, today's FT concentrates on a meeting between journalists and Sten Fornell, Ericsson's finance director, and a SonyEricsson board member, during which it was admitted Ericsson may have to pump a further E500m into the joint venture by October 2003 - a sum that would have to be matched by Sony.

The additional cash injection relates to calculations based on SonyEricsson's equity-to-asset ratio. For the second quarter this year SonyEricsson posted a loss after a profitable first three months of the year.