Nokia reports 20% sales drop

 

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By Maggie Holland

Posted on 15 Oct 2009 at 15:58

Nokia has reported less than rosy results for its third quarter, with company-wide operating profit shrinking by more than half.

Overall net sales for the period ending September totalled 9.8 billion euros, a 20% drop compared to last year’s figures. Meanwhile, net sales for its device and services business were also down by a fifth.

Nokia claimed its market share remained fairly constant at 38% for the quarter, in line with 2008 and in the second quarter of 2009. That said, the company shipped more than 108 million units during the three-month period, which is a 5% increase on Q2 but an eight% drop year-on-year.

“The demand for mobile devices improved in many markets during Q3. With the average selling price of our devices holding firm quarter-on-quarter, our higher device volumes translated into increased net sales in our Devices & Services business," says Nokia’s chief executive Olli-Pekka Kallasvuo,

"Our volumes and net sales were, however, somewhat constrained by component shortages we encountered across the portfolio," he adds. "I also want to highlight the good operating expense management that helped the segment deliver solid earnings,”

During the quarter, Nokia also wrote off €908 million in an “impairment of goodwill” for Nokia Siemens Networks.

Nokia remained optimistic about the next quarter, suggesting it expects industry wide mobile shipments to be up during the fourth quarter.