Nokia posts 2011 full-year loss

Finland's Nokia, struggling to remain the world's top mobile phone maker, on Thursday posted deep losses for both the full year of 2011 and for the fourth quarter amid slumping handset sales. For all of 2011, the company posted a net loss of 1.2 billion euros ($1.5 billion), compared to a net profit of 1.8 billion euros a year earlier, while its fourth quarter saw a net loss of 1.07 billion compared to a profit of 745 million in the final quarter of 2010. Net sales for the October-December period meanwhile slumped 21 percent year-on-year to 10.0 billion euros, while sales for the full year were down nine percent at 38.66 billion euros. Nonetheless, Nokia chief executive Stephen Elop, who has been leading the company through a major restructuring, described the fourth quarter results as "a significant step in Nokia's transformation." "While we progressed in the right direction in 2011, we still have a tremendous amount to accomplish in 2012, and thus, it is my assessment that we are in the heart of our transition," he said in the earnings statement. Elop, who last February announced the phasing out of Symbian as Nokia's smartphone platform in favour of a partnership with Microsoft, said he was pleased with the company's launch of its first phones on the Microsoft platform -- the Nokia Lumia 800 and the Nokia Lumia 710 -- in the fourth quarter. "We brought the new devices to market ahead of schedule, demonstrating that we are changing the clock speed of Nokia," he said, pointing out that "to date, we have introduced Lumia to consumers in Europe, Hong Kong, India, Russia, Singapore, South Korea and Taiwan." Nokia said it had sold "well over one million" of the new Lumia phones since the launch in October. Following the news, Nokia saw its share price jump nearly 6.0 percent to 4.30 euros in early afternoon trading on a Helsinki stock exchange up 1.43 percent. Explaining the hike, Strategy Analytics analyst Neil Mawston told the Dow Jones Newswires that while Nokia's overall handset sales were "soft," its sales in the closely-watched high-end smartphones segment were "reasonably encouraging" and roughly in line with market expectations.