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TAIPEI, Aug 24 (Reuters) BenQ Corp , the world's sixth-largest mobile phone maker, posted a third straight quarterly loss on Thursday, hit by strong competition in the global mobile phone market and restructuring woes.

The result was in line with analysts' expectations and BenQ forecast third-quarter sales to be flat with the second quarter, when it had sales of T$54.85 billion ($1.7 billion).

Analysts said it was unlikely that Taiwan's BenQ would turn to a profit in the next two quarters.

BenQ took over Siemens' loss-making mobile phone unit late last year, and has been aggressively marketing high-end cellphones in regions such as Europe and Asia.

''Sales were not as good as expected in Q2, which affected our earnings,'' Eric Yu, BenQ's chief financial officer, told an investor conference.

The firm, which has a market value of around $2 billion, took over the cellphone unit to set up BenQ Mobile, which currently accounts for half of the group's sales.

BenQ posted a net loss of T$2.51 billion ($76.5 million) for the quarter ended June, against a net profit of T$480 million a year ago and a loss of T$4.99 billion in the previous three months.

Analysts had expected BenQ to make a loss of T$2.54 billion for the second quarter, according to Reuters Estimates.

The company, which also conducts computer contract manufacturing work for multinationals like Dell Inc. and Hewlett-Packard Co. , competes with big handset players like Nokia and Motorola Inc. .

BenQ shares declined 25 percent in the second quarter, underperforming a 1.4 percent gain on Taiwan's main TAIEX share index <.twii>.

The firm announced results after the market closed in Taipei on Thursday. Its ordinary shares surged the daily 7 percent limit, while the benchmark index fell 0.09 percent.

(US$1=T$32.8) REUTERS PV SSC1239