TCL Communications, which offers devices using the Alcatel brand, said that global economic woes and foreign exchange issues impacted the prices and profit margins of its handsets in 2015.

The company’s profit for the year of HK$1.06 billion ($136 million) was down 5 per cent, on revenue of HK$28.56 billion, which was down 7 per cent.

Full year shipments of “handsets and other products” increased 9 per cent to 80 million units, with smart device volumes growing by 7 per cent to 44.5 million units.

But the company saw a slowdown in the last quarter, with total volume decreasing by 1 per cent to 24.7 million units, and smart device volume down 13 per cent to 13.4 million units.

Geographically, Latin America was the biggest region, followed by Europe and North America.

Due to slowed smartphone growth and “better than expected” feature phone sales, average selling prices of products decreased by 14 per cent across the full year.

Faced with these issues, it has refocused its sales strategy to focus on “businesses with high profitability”.

Looking forward, it said that it will continue to invest in product development and brand building, which may increase expenses and “may result in [a] significant year-on-year decline in net profit for the first quarter”.

Smart device sales are expected to recover in the second quarter, as new products become available – a portfolio update was announced at Mobile World Congress.