Nokia shares rise despite continuing losses Nokia's operating margin in its mobile phone business plunged to minus 11.8 per cent in the three months to the end of June and the Finnish group warned it could make a similar loss in the current quarter. But Nokia's shares rose 11 per cent in midday trading on Thursday as its results were less bad than investors feared after it issued a second profit warning in three months in June. The group posted an operating loss of €826m. Operating margin in its main devices and services division fell from minus 4 per cent a year earlier and minus 5.2 per cent in the previous quarter to minus 11.8 per cent. On Nokia's own preferred margin calculation it was minus 9.1 per cent, and it warned that it would be similarly low in the third quarter "plus or minus four percentage points." Nokia managed to stabilise its cash position in the quarter to the relief of many analysts. Although its net cash fell by 14 per cent to €4.2bn, the drop was entirely due to a dividend payment to investors. "We did a very good job on cash management," Stephen Elop, chief executive, told the Financial Times. Shares in Nokia, once the darling of the European technology sector, fell to their lowest level since 1996 earlier this year as investors fretted that the group, which missed the trend to smartphones epitomised by Apple's iPhone, was weakening significantly. Nokia has pinned its hope for a rebound on its Lumia smartphones, based on Microsoft's Windows platform. It sold 4m Lumia phones in the quarter, double the previous quarter. But overall smartphones sales fell to 10.2m, down from 11.9m in the first quarter and 16.7m a year ago. One relative bright spot was provided by Nokia Siemens Networks, its telecoms equipment joint venture with the German group, which returned to operating profitability on its preferred measure in the second quarter.