Nokia reveals 66.0-pc profit drop, shares slump

HELSINKI: Finnish telecoms giant Nokia revealed a 66.0-percent collapse in quarterly net profit to 380 million euros (535 million dollars) on falling handset sales and lower prices, in a statement on Thursday.

The news drove down Nokia shares by 7.84 percent to 10.23 euros on the Helsinki stock exchange in an overall market down 28.95 percent.

"Competition remains intense," chief executive Olli-Pekka Kallasvuo said in a statement. "But demand in the overall mobile device market appears to be bottoming out."

Its share of the worldwide handset market fell to 38 percent, down from 40 percent 12 months earlier, the company said in an earnings statement for the second quarter comparing figures to the equivalent performance 12 months ago.

"Nokia now expects its market share in mobile devices to be approximately flat in 2009, compared with 2008," the company said in a statement.