Nokia issues another sales warning
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Nokia will launch its n-gage games mobile phone in summer 2003
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HELSINKI, Finland (CNN) -- Nokia, the powerhouse behind the global mobile phone revolution, warned first-quarter sales and earning would be weaker than expected because customers are reluctant to buy new flashy phones.
The Espoo-based company, which issued six sales warnings last year, said on Tuesday sales in the first three months of this year would "be at the low end of the of the guided range of flat to nine percent year-on-year growth."
Nokia predicted first-quarter pro forma earnings per share would be between 0.15 euros and 0.17 euros, less than 0.19 euros reported in the same first quarter of 2002. Its latest estimate was below the January forecast of 0.15 to 0.19 euros.
The company, which sells two in every five mobile handsets sold, has slashed jobs and closed plants and cut back on spending to counter a decline in revenue a sluggish global economic growth.
Nokia and its rivals -- like Sony Ericsson, Motorola and Samsung -- have been betting new camera and colour screen phones will revive the stagnant market. Mobile phone sales fell in 2001 for the first time in more than two decades and sales rose 5 percent to about 405 million units in 2002, according to Nokia.
Consumers have been reluctant to splash out on new phones, with little in the way of new technology and the poor performance of Web-enabled phones. And as telecom operators continue to curtail spending on infrastructure, Nokia said in January it expects the market to decline five to 10 percent in 2003.
But on Tuesday the group said network sales are expected to decline by 15 percent to 20 percent this year.
Nokia's (NOK) stock, which has lost about a third of its value this year, dived 7.3 percent to 10.60 euros in midday trading in Helsinki. Rival Ericsson plunged 12.8 percent to 4.22 Swedish crowns.
Reuters contributed to this report.
