03/12 04:29
Nokia to Miss First-Quarter Sales Target on Network Decline
By Jonas Dromberg
quote.bloomberg.com
Espoo, Finland, March 12 (Bloomberg) -- Nokia Oyj, the world's biggest cellular-phone maker, said it'll miss its first- quarter sales target because of a bigger-than-expected decline at the network business. Its stock slipped as much as 5 percent.
Nokia said network sales will fall about 25 percent, cutting a previous outlook of a drop of as much as 20 percent. Mobile- phone sales will fall as much as 7 percent, the company said in a statement to the Helsinki exchange, keeping a January projection.
``Some network supplies have been delayed and Europe is still a difficult market,'' said Mika Paloranta, an analyst at Nordea Securities, who recommends investors ``buy'' the stock. ``Still, this is no catastrophe as phone sales were as expected.''
Nokia and rivals such as Motorola Inc. and Siemens AG are counting on an economic recovery and the introduction of more phones that allow faster Web access to boost demand this year after shipments fell for the first time in 2001. Nokia plans to introduce more new products through June than in all of last year.
Espoo, Finland-based Nokia said first-quarter profit will be at the top end or above its January forecast of 15 euro cents to 17 cents (13 and 15 U.S. cents) a share, as the company continues to cut costs and introduce new phones. |
