Sony Ericsson on Thursday posted a big loss for the fourth quarter of 2011, blaming tough competition, the global slowdown and restructuring for marring the final quarter before it is rolled into Japanese consumer giant Sony.

The pretax loss was 247 million euros ($316.57 million)versus a forecast for a profit of 41.7 million in a Reuters poll and a profit of 31 million euros in the previous three-month period. ($1 = 0.7802 euros)

Sony