It was the second quarter in a row that the telecoms and electronics group has reported a profit.

But it still suffered substantial losses for 2002 as a whole.

"Motorola exceeded the vast majority of the financial metrics we set out to achieve in this middle phase of our turnaround in 2002," said chairman and chief executive Christopher Galvin.

"But as proud as we are of this interim 2002 progress, no-one in Motorola management is satisfied with this overall profitability or growth," he added.

Shares rise

The company said it made a profit of $174m in the last three months of the year compared with a loss of $1.2bn the previous year.

Profits were helped by an 11% rise in sales of cell phones and a 15% increase in sales of semiconductors.

But for the whole of 2002 the company suffered a loss of $2.49bn, or $1.09 a share, compared with a loss of $3.94bn in 2001.

The group published its figures after the New York stock market had closed, but its shares rose 25 cents to $9 in after-hours trading.

The company warned that results in the first quarter would be weaker than expected but it said it stood by its forecast for the year of sales of $27.5bn and earnings of 40 cents a share.