Nokia rings up massive losses as sales freefall

THE clock continued to tick down for Nokia yesterday as it racked up massive quarterly losses, a slump in turnover and announced it was parting company with its sales chief, writes Scott Reid.

Plummeting sales – including those of smartphones amid stiff competition from Apple, HTC and Samsung – pushed the Finnish group to a net loss of €929 million (£760m) in the first quarter. The loss compared with a net profit of €344m a year earlier, while revenues fell by 30 per cent to €7.4 billion.

Analysts said that chief executive Stephen Elop, who joined Nokia in 2010 from Microsoft, had until the end of the year to improve sales of the new Lumia smartphones before investors started to question his strategy.

Elop, who launched the firm’s turnaround plan in February 2011, admitted that sales have been mixed for the new Windows-based Lumia model on which the company is pinning it hopes.

“We exceeded expectations in markets including the United States, but establishing momentum in certain markets, including the UK, has been more challenging,” he said.

“Clearly we are disappointed by our performance in the first quarter.”

The group, which last year was still the world’s biggest mobile phone maker with unit sales of about 419 million, said Colin Giles, head of sales, would leave the firm in June amid a restructuring.

His boss, markets unit chief Niklas Savander, will now take on Giles’ duties.