Finnish mobile maker Nokia shipped fewer phones than forecast in the second quarter, despite a 32 percent rise in sales of its flagship Lumia smartphone.
Shares traded down 4.26 percent after the news, as mobile phone sales disappointed, falling by 4 percent to 53.7 million units, below market expectations of 56.2 million. Shipments of Lumia smartphones rose to 7.4 million quarter-on-quarter, but missed estimates of 8.1 million.
Nokia’s net sales came in at 5.7 billion euros ($7.5 billion) in the second-quarter, below the 6.4 billion euros expected in a Reuters poll.
However, analysts said that the rise in Lumia shipments marked a breakthrough for Nokia, after a significant marketing push by the firm.
“Fantastic, well done Nokia,” Dan Wagner, CEO and founder at mPowa Technologies told CNBC on July 18. “This really says that their smartphone initiative is starting to pay off.”
Ian Fogg, head of mobile at research firm IHS Global Insight, said that although Nokia was clearly still struggling, its Lumia shipments were one of several bright spots in its results.
On the downside, Nokia’s net sales to Greater China showed a sharp drop of 57 percent from last year, a greater drop than for any other markets. Fogg attributed this to “collateral damage” from Nokia’s decision to pair with Microsoft’s Windows operating system, which is integrated with three social media sites – Facebook, LinkedIn and Twitter – that are unavailable in China.
Source: CNBC
