Nokia sales tumble overshadows Lumia pick-up

 

A big fall in sales of Nokia's basic phones overshadowed a stronger performance from its Lumia smartphones in the first quarter, and it said it expected operating margins to deteriorate, sending its shares down 11%.

 

The Finnish mobile phone maker also reported an unexpected fall in sales at its previously upbeat equipment venture Nokia Siemens Networks.

 

Nokia, which has fallen behind Samsung  and Apple in the smartphone race, said it sold 5.6 million units of Lumia handsets in the first quarter, up from 4.4 million in the previous quarter and in line with expectations.

 

But overall net sales fell 20% to 5.9 billion euros from a year earlier, while phone volumes tumbled 30 % on the previous quarter.

 

It forecast margins in its devices and services business would be "approximately negative 2%" in the second quarter, down from a positive 0.1% in the first quarter.

 

The company's first-quarter underlying loss, which excludes special items, decreased to 0.02 euros from 0.08 euros a year earlier. Markets had expected a 0.04 loss, according to a Reuters poll.