Nokia losses narrow in Q2, revenue plunges

Nokia's sales have again fallen sharply, with sales of traditional mobile phones dropping 39 per cent from the level a year earlier.

Nokia has reported a reduced loss of 227 million euros ($A325 million) in the second quarter, but sales again fell sharply.

The loss was 84 per cent less than in the same period last year, but sales fell by 24 per cent to 5.695 billion euros.

The decline in sales of traditional mobile phones continued, dropping 39 per cent from the level a year earlier, while smartphone sales were down 24 per cent over the same period.

"Sales of low end phones - a cash cow - collapsed," said Eric Beaudet, an analyst at investment bank Natixis.

"It's worrying because this division needs to be profitable in order for them to manage the transition (to high end phones)," he said.

Sales of Lumia, the smartphone on which the troubled company has bet its future, rose by 32 per cent from the previous quarter to 7.4 million units.

But analysts had expected more.

"Lumia sales were slightly lower than expected," said Hannu Rauhala, an analyst at Finnish bank Pohjola.

Mikael Rautanen of equity research provider Inderes was disappointed by the Lumia's average selling price, which at 157 euros per unit was significantly lower than his own expectation of 175 euros.

Nokia chief executive Stephen Elop said the phone was "showing increasing momentum".

"During the third quarter, we expect that our new Lumia products will drive a significant part of our smart devices revenue," he said in a statement.

Nokia used to be the global leader in making mobile phones but has been overtaken by rivals and is struggling to establish winning business models and mobile devices.

Shares in the company were 4.45 lower in late afternoon trading on the Helsinki bourse, where the main index was down 0.66 per cent.


Share

2 min read

Published

Updated

Source: AAP


Share this with family and friends


Get SBS News daily and direct to your Inbox

Sign up now for the latest news from Australia and around the world direct to your inbox.

By subscribing, you agree to SBS’s terms of service and privacy policy including receiving email updates from SBS.

Download our apps
SBS News
SBS Audio
SBS On Demand

Listen to our podcasts
An overview of the day's top stories from SBS News
Interviews and feature reports from SBS News
Your daily ten minute finance and business news wrap with SBS Finance Editor Ricardo Gonçalves.
A daily five minute news wrap for English learners and people with disability
Get the latest with our News podcasts on your favourite podcast apps.

Watch on SBS
SBS World News

SBS World News

Take a global view with Australia's most comprehensive world news service
Watch the latest news videos from Australia and across the world