Nokia, the world's largest maker of mobile phones, today stood by a previous earnings target, but said that it expects sales to fall short of an earlier estimate for the third quarter of the year.
Issuing a mid-term update on its third-quarter performance, Nokia said it expected earnings per share in a range from 15-17 cent, which was in line with earlier estimates.
However, the group warned sales would fall to between €7.1 billion to €7.4 billion, compared with an earlier forecast of €7.2 billion to €7.6 billion. The earnings forecast was in line with the estimates of analysts, who were also looking for sales at around €7.23 billion in the quarter.
In comparison to the company's third-quarter expectations, Nokia reported in the same period last year earnings per share of 16 cent and net sales of €7.05 billion.
Due to the sluggish demand and delays in the launch of next-generation mobile phone services, or 3G, among operators, Nokia said its network division would see its sales decline by 5% in the third quarter compared to the same period in 2001.
In the third quarter of last year, Nokia Networks had €1.66 billion in sales, while its mobile phone division had a turnover of €5.27 billion. The group would also write-off of €300 million on its network financing operations after a restructuring of debt owed by ailing German firm MobilCom, it said.
Commenting on its handset division, the Finnish group said it was 'increasingly confident' about reaching a goal of 400 million handsets sold worldwide this year, 37% of which would bear the Nokia name.
