Hong Kong-based conglomerate Hutchison Whampoa Ltd has recorded a net loss of HKD 9.6bn ($1.2bn) for the initial year of its 3G mobile operations as a shortage of handsets restricted revenue to HKD 1.8bn ($259.6m).

The company said that while suppliers were committed to deliver significantly enhanced second-generation 3G handsets during the third quarter, they only made limited deliveries, seriously impairing its ability to increase its customer base in the fourth quarter. Hutchison said the issue has now been resolved.

With 361,000 customers in the UK, 453,000 in Italy, and 36,500 in Hong Kong, Hutchison is tiny compared with the established operations that will all be rolling out their own 3G services shortly, ending its competitive advantage. For this reason, Hutchison has been tipped as a potential bidder for mmO2 Plc, which has been at the center of takeover speculation after turning down a bid from KPN NV.

In other news, a storming first quarter has led Adobe Systems Inc to raise its targets for the year and while it was originally looking for 10% revenue growth, it now expects revenue for 2004 to be at least 14% higher in a range of $1.475bn to $1.5m.

Even this may prove conservative after a first quarter to March 5 when income leapt more than 128.9% to $123m on revenue 42.5% higher at $423.3m. CEO Bruce Chizen said growth was driven by revenue from the new Creative suite and its Intelligent Documents business.

For the second quarter, Adobe forecasts that revenue will grow between 14% and 20% to a range of $365m to $385m. One reason for the buoyant revenue is Adobe has put considerably more effort into its sales and marketing operations, where spending has increased by about 30%.

These figures can only increase the appetite of Microsoft Corp to move into Adobe’s markets in a bigger way. It already offers an electronic form tool called InfoPath and Adobe is steeling itself for further intrusion.

And finally, Fujitsu said on Friday that it would spend JPY160bn ($1.5bn) building a new chip factory at its Mie plant in central Japan. The new plant is scheduled to come on line in 2005, and will produce 90 nanometer and 65 nanometer-based chips, from 300mm wafers. When up and running, the plant will have a capacity of 13,000 wafers per month.

This article is based on material originally published by ComputerWire