Nokia posted a quarterly loss in Q3 2012 of approximately $740 million CDN with underwhelming sales of its Lumia line and a general malaise in its devices and services department.
Indeed, Nokia’s CEO Stephen Elop admits this has been a “tough transitional quarter for our smart devices business,” but with the launch of its upcoming Windows Phone 8 lineup he wants to “return [the] Devices & Services business to positive operating cash flow as quickly as possible, and ultimately provide more value to [its] shareholders.”
On sales of approximately $9.3 billion CDN, Nokia’s net sales were down 34% YoY, with smartphone sales down an astonishing 56%. In North America the company shipped just 300,000 smartphones, down from 700,000 in the previous quarter. While Nokia did manage to sell 77 million mobile phones, 6.5 million of which were Asha “smartphones,” there was a clear downward trend in all but a few metrics.
The company posted a small operating profit from its Nokia Siemens networking segment and posted a smaller loss from its Location segment after inking deals with Amazon and improving its relationship with Microsoft.
And while the company is expected to post another loss in Q4, there is hope on the horizon. Elop hopes for strong initial sales of its Lumia 820 and 920 devices, which will debut in “select markets,” with volume growth in North America especially. Nokia still has a whopping 3.5 billion euros in cash and liquid assets, and is looking to continue to cut expenses in a company-wide restructuring program.
Source: Nokia
