Torrid trading drags Nokia to £324m loss
NOKIA yesterday crashed to an expected second quarter loss, compounding a miserable year for the former smartphone market-leader.
Even factoring in a one-off payment of €430m from Apple over a long-running patent dispute, Nokia slumped to a loss of €368m (£324m).
It was dragged down by a 20 per cent slide in revenues in its once-unbeatable mobile business, with overall revenues tumbling seven per cent to €9.3bn
It has now been superceded by both Samsung and Apple in smartphone sales, with little sign of turning the Titanic. The Finnish manufacturer said it sold 16.7m smartphones in the quarter, falling behind Apple’s sales of 20.3m iPhones.
Fellow industry stalwart Ericsson also announced torrid trading yesterday. Investors ditched shares in the mobile phone network supplier, after it missed earnings forecasts due to a hefty job cut charge and forecast less profitable business in the pipeline in Europe.
Its second quarter earnings fell well below analyst expectations.
Meanwhile, Alcatel-Lucent confirmed it may sell a collection of businesses that serve non-telecom operator customers as part of boss Ben Verwaayen’s ongoing turnaround plan.