Nokia narrows Q2 net loss to US$300 million

Nokia announced a 24 per cent fall in its second quarter revenues and reported another net loss for the quarter.

Net sales for the period amounted to €5.7 billion (US$7.5 billion), while it shrank its net loss to €227 million (US$298 million) compared to a loss of €1.4 billion for the same period last year. Excluding non-cash write-downs, the company would have posted a profit of €382 million.

Commenting on the second quarter results, Stephen Elop, Nokia CEO, said: "We’re pleased to report an underlying operating profit for the fourth consecutive quarter on a group level. We benefited from another strong performance at Nokia Siemens Networks (NSN), which continued to deliver well against its focused strategy."

Smartphones

In the second quarter 2013, Devices & Services total smartphone volumes fell to 11.7 million units.

The year-on-year decline in smart devices volumes in the second quarter 2013 continued to be driven by competing smartphone platforms and the transition from Symbian products to Lumia products.

Symbian volumes decreased from six million units in the second quarter 2012 to approximately zero in the second quarter 2013. Lumia volumes increased from four million in the second quarter 2012 to 7.4 million in the second quarter 2013.

On a year-on-year basis, net sales decreased in all regions primarily due to lower sales in the Mobile Phones business unit. The largest year-on-year decline in net sales was in Greater China followed by Asia Pacific, Middle East & Africa and Latin America.

Mobile Phones

During the second quarter 2013 Nokia shipped 53.7 million mobile phones, of which 4.3 million were Asha full-touch smartphones. That compares with shipments of 88.5 million handsets a year ago.

Nokia Siemens Networks

Revenues fell by 17 per cent to €2.78 billion, of which 52 per cent was for services. The decline in revenues was put mainly down to disposals of divisions, although excluding that, sales would have still fallen by 11 per cent due to reduced wireless infrastructure deployment activity.

Non-IFRS operating profit at NSN amounted to €328 million, up considerably from €28 million in Q212.