Nokia released its interim report for the year's second quarter today, revealing an operating loss of €826 million – or approximately $1.02 billion – despite a slight increase in quarterly net sales. The company also announced it sold four million Lumia devices during the quarter.
The company's Q2 2012 Interim Report reveals it had net sales of €7.5 billion (approximately $9.2 billion), up from €7.4 billion (approximately $9.08 billion) in the previous quarter. Nokia improved its overall smartphone sales both quarter-over-quarter and year-over-year, although only North America had a positive year-over-year change in the company's net sales for devices and services, with increases of 45 percent year-over-year and 38 percent quarter-over-quarter for the continent.
Nokia CEO Stephen Elop's statement on the quarter was blunt: "Nokia is taking action to manage through this transition period. While Q2 was a difficult quarter, Nokia employees are demonstrating their determination to strengthen our competitiveness, improve our operating model and carefully manage our financial resources."
While the company sold four million Lumia phones during the quarter, slightly beating market expectations, it expects Windows Phone 8 to serve as a catalyst for Lumia shipments, Elop said. Despite Nokia's big bet on the Windows Phone platform, Elop cited the company's "stability in [its] feature phone business," perhaps indicating the company's disappointing position in the smartphone industry, which Elop didn't comment on.
The company continued to burn through its cash reserves, albeit at a rate much lower than analysts had expected. Nokia now holds €4.2 billion in net cash (roughly $5.16 billion), a decrease from last quarter's €4.87 billion (roughly $5.98 billion). According to CNBC, market analysts had expected Nokia's cash reserves to plummet to €3.7 billion. Nokia expects its third quarter to be similar to its second quarter.
Source: Nokia
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