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Nokia quarterly cellphone sales down ; Could be 9 percent below expectations

Posted on: Wednesday, 7 April 2004, 06:00 CDT

HELSINKI, Finland - Nokia, the world's biggest cellphone maker, said first-quarter sales were down about 2 percent from last year, signaling that its sales were as much as 9 percent below expectations.

But it said it should meet earnings expectations.

Nokia cited poor sales in its mobile phones and multimedia groups on Tuesday as it estimated sales were about $7.92 billion in the first quarter. The company expects to report its results on April 16.

"The overall Nokia sales were negatively impacted because we were not able to fully exploit the usual seasonal market pickup in March, and the mobile phones product mix was weighted toward the low end," said chief executive Jorma Ollila.

Ollila, who said he was "not satisfied with our sales development," maintained that profitability margins remained high.

The company said earnings per share would be in line with expectations, about 20 cents.

Globally, mobile phone sales growth is estimated to have been more than 25 percent in the first quarter of 2004, while Nokia volumes grew by only 19 percent, Nokia said.

The Finnish company, whose mobile phone sales account for 80 percent of total revenue, has focused increasingly on the handset market.

After the announcement, Nokia shares plunged 17.3 percent to close at $17.36 Tuesday on the Helsinki stock exchange.

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