Sees FY opg profit at or slightly below mid-point of range (Il Sole 24 Ore Radiocor) - Helsinki, 18 Jul - The Finnish telecommunications equipment firm Nokia said that in the second quarter it posted a net loss of 142 million euros compared with a profit of 289 million a year earlier as sales fell 18% to 4.466 billion euros.

On a comparable basis, the net profit fell 20% to 328 million euros.

The board announced a 0.03 euro per share interim dividend.

The board's remaining distribution authorization is a maximum of 0.06 euro per share.

The board also intends to accelerate the timeframe for an existing 600 million euro share buyback program with the aim of completing it by the end of this year instead of the initial two year timeframe.

"Looking forward, we believe the industry is stabilizing and given the order intake seen in recent quarters we expect a significant acceleration in net sales growth in the second half. While the dynamic is improving, the net sales recovery is happening somewhat later than we previously expected, impacting our business group net sales assumptions for 2024.

Despite this, we remain solidly on track to achieve our full year outlook supported by our quick action on cost. We are currently tracking towards the mid-point or slightly below the mid-point of our comparable operating profit guidance of EUR 2.3 to 2.9 billion and towards the higher-end of our free cash flow conversion guidance of 30% to 60%," Nokia added.

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(RADIOCOR) 18-07-24 08:28:51 (0168) 5 NNNN