Motorola has warned that the first half of this year will be “rocky” but that improvements should come in the second half.

The world’s second largest mobile manufacturer has seen its profits fall recently with weak Q4 results caused by a slowdown in the company’s mobile sales. The company has been criticised for allowing its portfolio to age with over-reliance on its former champion, the Razr.

Motorola chief financial officer, David Devonshire, speaking to analysts at a technology conference Wednesday, said the firm had run into trouble by chasing market share, rather than profits in 2006 but promised change in the near future. “The straight strategy for market share got us in trouble in the fourth quarter… we’ve got some work to do,” he said. “I think we’ll have a couple of rocky quarters. In the second half of the year you’ll see some improvements.”

Devonshire said that first quarter margins were “not going to be good”.

The timing of Moto’s predictions come at a bad time for the company. Earlier this week the firm lost its president of mobile devices business, Ron Garriques, to PC manufacturer, Dell and it is still perceived by several analysts as having a lacklustre portfolio.

Devonshire said he didn’t know why Garriques resigned.

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