Nokia revenues drop by 24%, Lumia sales increase offers hope

PanARMENIAN.Net - Nokia made an operating loss of €115m (£98.8m) in the second quarter, with revenues falling 24% to €5.7bn, as it struggled to turn its handset business around, The Guardian said.

However, the Finnish mobile company's Lumia smartphones finally outsold rival BlackBerry, a key milestone in its attempt to establish itself as the "third ecosystem" in market dominated by Apple and Google's Android.

Nokia's shares fell by 3% on the Helsinki stock exchange in early trading.

The company also saw an outflow of nearly 10% of its net cash over the quarter to just €4.07bn, which has led some analysts to express concerns about its future viability if the handset business does not improve. The company has made operating losses totalling €4.1bn in the past nine quarters.

Only Nokia Siemens Networks, its joint venture for the mobile infrastructure business, generated an operating profit, of €8m on revenues of €2.78bn. Nokia took full control of the business after the quarter ended, buying the other 50% for €1.7bn.

The handset business lost €33m on revenues of €2.72bn, down 32% from a year ago and down 6% sequentially. A key problem was China, where the volume of sales fell by 48% as buyers there shift to smartphones – often running versions of the Android software – made by indigenous companies. Nokia's handset revenues are now smaller than at any time since 2002.