Taiwan's HTC posts fall in 2008 net profit

TAIPEI, Jan 6 (Reuters) - Taiwan smartphone maker HTC Corp (2498.TW) posted a 0.9 percent fall in 2008 net profit from the prior year on Tuesday, beating analysts' expectations.

The company said in a statement that it recorded a self-assessed full-year net profit of T$28.7 billion ($870 million) last year compared to T$28.939 billion in 2007, without giving reasons for the decline.

A Reuters Estimates survey of 17 analysts had expected the company to make T$28.4 billion in 2008.

HTC also said its fourth quarter self-assessed post-bonus net income after tax was T$8.14 billion.

(Reporting by Kelvin Soh; Editing by Jonathan Hopfner)