Nokia reveal £800 million operating loss
Despite the promising launch of Nokia’s first set of Windows Phone 7 devices with their Lumia range, it’s still tough times for the Finnish company. Revealing that their smartphone fightback is far from over, they’ve announced an operating loss of a massive €954 million, (roughly £800 million) for the last three months of 2011.
Net sales too dropped 21% compared to the previous year, down from €12.65 billion to a little above €10 billion.
The figures come in stark contrast to last year’s €884 million profit. But the company continues to sell handsets in staggering figures. Let’s not for forget that just yesterday the mobile giant’s announced the sale of their 1.5 billionth Symbian Series 40 device.
93.9 million feature phones were sold alongside the 19.6 million shifted by their struggling smartphone division for a grand total of 113.5 million devices. This, however, was still a significant drop from 123.7 million units in the same period of 2010.
Even the average handset unit price has dropped, going from €69 down to €53, further cutting into Nokia’s fortunes.
“In the war of ecosystems, clearly there are some strong contenders already on the field,” said CEO Stephen Elop.
“And with Lumia, we have demonstrated that we belong on the field. Our specific intent has been to establish a beachhead in this war of ecosystems, and country by country that is what we are now accomplishing.
“And, while we progressed in the right direction in 2011, we still have a tremendous amount to accomplish in 2012, and thus, it is my assessment that we are in the heart of our transition.
“In summary, with a strong balance sheet, our performance in mobile phones and the new excitement around Lumia, we are confident that we are on the right track to build long-term value.”
Elop may be confident, but it’s still very much an uphill battle he and his company faces. With share prices dropping and job cuts hitting every level of the company, the Lumia range has to pick up years’ worth of slack, something it may struggle to do.
