Nokia losses almost at €1bn

Plummeting sales, including for smartphones, have helped push Nokia to a net loss of €929m in the first quarter, the firm has announced.

The loss compared with a net profit of €344m a year earlier. Revenue fell 30% to €7.4bn from €10.4bn in 2011, and the company gave a dim outlook warning of stronger than expected competition.

It said operating margins in the second quarter would be "similar to or below the first quarter 2012 level of negative 3%," and that it would speed up a cost cutting goal of €1bn by 2013.

Nokia gave no details except to say it would share "further details as quickly as possible."

Net sales of devices crashed 40% to €4.2bn in the quarter, while smartphone sales fell by more than half to €1.7bn.

Nokia said it sold 83 million mobile phones in the quarter, down from 108 million in 2011.

Markets had been expecting a downturn for Nokia, which gave a profit warning last week, and its share price was down slightly at €3.01 in early afternoon trading in Helsinki.

Last year, Nokia was still the world's top mobile phone maker with annual unit sales of some 419 million devices.

But in the last quarter of the year it posted a net loss of €1.07bn, a marked reverse from the €745m profit a year earlier, as sales slumped 21% with smartphone sales plunging 23%.