HELSINKI, April 18 (Xinhua) -- Finland's telecommunications company, Nokia, reported a 19-percent drop in net sales in the first quarter (Q1) of this year, according to the Nokia Corporation Interim Report for Q1 published on Thursday.
From January to March, the company's net sales decreased from 5.86 billion euros (6.27 billion U.S. dollars) to 4.67 billion euros (4.99 billion dollars) compared to the same period last year.
Nokia's president and CEO, Pekka Lundmark, attributed the company's net sales drop to the ongoing market weakness.
However, in the financial report, Lundmark noted that despite the challenging market environment, order trends are improving, giving him confidence in a stronger second half to achieve the full-year outlook.
Despite declining sales, Nokia's operating profit increased by 25 percent year-on-year to 597 million euros, primarily due to its non-recurring patent income, compared to 479 million euros for the same period last year.
Nokia claimed that its full-year outlook remains unchanged. The company expects its comparable operating profit for this year to be between 2.3 billion euros and 2.9 billion euros, and free cash flow conversion from a comparable operating profit between 30 percent and 60 percent. (1 euro = 1.07 U.S. dollars) ■
