Nokia Falls to Surprise Loss

Nokia Corp. on Tuesday reported first-quarter earnings below expectations due to sluggish mobile network sales, as the Finnish network equipment maker for the first time reported results as a combined company with Alcatel-Lucent.

For the three months ended in March, Nokia reported a net loss of €513 million ($583.46 million) compared with a €177 million profit a year earlier, as a standalone company. Nokia said net profit was at €139 million when costs related to the Alcatel-Lucent transaction, among others, were excluded.

Nokia's first-quarter revenue amounted to €5.6 billion, up from €3.20 billion in the year-earlier period.

Analysts polled by FactSet expected net profit of €237 million and revenue of €5.73 billion.

The first quarter marks the first one for Nokia as a combined company with Alcatel-Lucent, which $16.6 billion acquisition Nokia completed in January.

Nokia said the results were due to sluggish demand for mobile broadband equipment, as last-generation network equipment rollouts in China and some other markets are slowing.

Nokia's network business noted a 8% decrease in net sales compared with the same period last year, the company said.

"The shortfall was largely driven by Mobile Networks, where the challenging environment is not a surprise," said Nokia Chairman and Chief Executive Rajeev Suri.

Write to Matthias Verbergt at [e-mail]

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

May 10, 2016 02:25 ET (06:25 GMT)

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