Nokia reveals steep sales fall

Nokia has reported a steep fall in sales at its network equipment division, raising concerns about growth prospects for what will be its main operation when it sells its phone business to Microsoft.

The division’s fourth-quarter sales fell 22 per cent from a year earlier to €3.1 billion (£2.5bn) as it failed to make up for the completion of large-scale Asian projects and withdrawal from some low-margin businesses.

Meanwhile sales in the devices and services division, which it is selling to Microsoft for €5.4bn, fell 29 per cent to around €2.6 bn as it struggled with “competitive industry dynamics”.

Nokia’s shares were down 10 per cent yesterday afternoon and analysts said much of the sell-off was due to worries about the network division which will account for around 90 per cent of sales after the Microsoft deal is completed later this quarter.