Nokia reports gloomy results

Mobile phone maker loses market share and posts downbeat third-quarter figures

Nokia says overall 2008 results should be positive

Nokia’s profit and revenue plunged in the third quarter of 2008 as the company saw its share of the mobile phone market slip.

The manufacturer reported a dive in third quarter earnings of 28 per cent on the same period in 2007 with revenue for the quarter ended September 30 down five per cent to €12.24bn (£9.53bn).

The firm sold 117.8 million mobile devices during the period, an increase of five per cent year on year and down three per cent consecutively.

Nokia also said industry-wide unit sales were up eight per cent year on year and two per cent sequentially, which implies it lost market share.

"Clearly some competitors have been more price aggressive recently in an effort to either clear stock or try to gain badly needed scale,” chief executive Olli-Pekka Kallasvuo told analysts in a conference call.

“We have not broadly participated in what we believe to be unsustainable price moves. However, we don't intend to give the competition a free ride, and economic gravity will apply to them," he said.

For the next quarter, Nokia expects mobile device volumes to be up and to maintain or increase market share. Total industry-wde unit shipments for 2008 should reach €1.26bn (£981,000), up 10.5 per cent on €1.14 bn (£888,000) in the prior year.