Finnish Nokia plunges to $136 mn quarterly loss as sales drop 12%

Mobile networks operator Nokia continued to be hit by a downturn in the industry, reporting a loss in the third quarter and a 12-percent drop in sales that saw the company’s share price plunge 7 per cent. As it struggles against tough competition, the Finland-based company on Friday reported a net loss of 125 million euros ($136 million), down from a profit a year earlier, on sales of 5.9 billion euros. 

Last year’s third-quarter result showed a Nokia stand-alone profit of 152 million euros on sales of 3 billion euros. The two results are not comparable as the 2016 results include the 15.6 billion-euro acquisition of the French networks provider Alcatel-Lucent completed this year. 

Nokia shares were down 7 percent at 4.35 euros in early morning trading in Helsinki. Neil Mawston from Strategy Analytics near London said that Nokia continued to be hurt by competition. “They’re still struggling, still facing headwinds from China and elsewhere,” Mawston said. “In terms of revenue they’re still under pressure and falling. The 4G market globally for networks is not as strong as it once was,” he added.