14 DAY TRIAL // Finnish mobile phone maker Nokia has announced today its financial results for the third quarter of the ongoing year, ended September 30, 2009, and posted net sales of EUR 9.8 billion. According to the company, its net sales went down by 20 percent compared to the same time frame a year ago, and 1 percent compared to the previous quarter (at constant currency, the drop was of 19 percent year on year and stayed flat sequentially). Nokia registered an operating loss of EUR 426 million in the quarter, while its non-IFRS operating profit was of EUR 741 million, 58 percent lower than a year ago.
The company also announced that it managed to ship around 108.5 million mobile devices, marking an 8 percent decrease compared to the same quarter a year ago, but going up 5 percent from the second quarter of 2009. Nokia's market share for the third quarter of 2009 is estimated to have been of around 38 percent, the same as in Q3 2008 and in Q2 2009. According to the handset maker, the entire mobile phone market was of 288 million units in the time frame, registering a drop of 7 percent from the previous year's third quarter but marking a 5 percent increase from Q2 2009.
Nokia said that it registered Devices & Services net sales of EUR 6.9 billion during the three-month period, going down 20 percent year on year and up 5 percent from the previous quarter, and that its non-IFRS operating margin was of 11.4 percent, down from the 18.6 percent it registered in Q3 2008, and the 12.2 percent posted in Q2 2009. The Devices & Services gross margin was of 30.9 percent, while the mobile device ASP (Average Selling Price) was of EUR 62. The company also announced operating cash flow of EUR 720 million, while the total cash and liquid assets at the end of Q3 2009 totaled EUR 7.4 billion.
Oli-Pekka Kallasvuo, Nokia's CEO, commented: “The demand for mobile devices improved in many markets during Q3. With the average selling price of our devices holding firm quarter-on-quarter, our higher device volumes translated into increased net sales in our Devices & Services business. Our volumes and net sales were, however, somewhat constrained by component shortages we encountered across the portfolio. I also want to highlight the good operating expense management that helped the segment deliver solid earnings. The challenging competitive factors and market conditions in the infrastructure and related services business necessitated non-cash impairment charges at Nokia Siemens Networks. We continue to support Nokia Siemens Networks actions to improve its performance.”
When it comes to the fourth quarter of the ongoing year, the Finnish company says that it expects for the industry mobile device volumes to go up compared to the previous quarter, and that its mobile device market share should remain at the same level sequentially. Nokia expects the mobile phone market to reach 1.12 billion units in 2009, marking a 7 percent decrease compared to the 1.21 billion units the company estimated for last year. Compared to previous forecasts, the new one is slightly up, as the company said earlier that the mobile phone market would shrink with around 10 percent this year.