Nokia suffers third-quarter loss and 30 per cent sales drop

Smartphone sales hit as mobile networks compete to sell iPhones

Nokia sales suffered

Nokia has reported a loss for its third quarter after sales sank by almost a fifth.

The company made a loss of €559m (£512m) for the period, compared with a profit of €1.09bn (£1bn) in the year-ago quarter.

Net quarterly sales fell 30 per cent to €9.8bn (£9bn) compared with €12.2bn (£11.2bn) last year.

Nokia chief executive Olli-Pekka Kallasvuo said: "Our volumes and net sales were, however, somewhat constrained by component shortages we encountered across the portfolio."

Nokia is struggling in smartphones as mobile networks compete to sell Apple’s more popular iPhone.

The Finnish phone giant also suffered a €908m (£833m) write-down in its networks unit, citing challenging market conditions.

The company said the adjusted operating margin at its devices and services unit is expected to rise at least one percentage point in the fourth quarter compared to the same quarter last year.