Helsinki - Nokia, the world's largest mobile phone maker, Thursday posted a pre-tax loss for third quarter 2009 that also saw sales drop.

The Finnish-based company posted a pre-tax loss of 469 million euros (678 million dollars), compared to a pre-tax profit of 1.41 billion euros for the corresponding business period in 2008.

Third-quarter sales dropped 20 per cent year-on-year to 9.8 billion euros, the group said.

The share price was off some 7 per cent in early afternoon trading on the news.

Nokia Chief Executive Olli-Pekka Kallasvuo said in a comment that although "demand for mobile devices improved in many markets," Nokia had noted that its "volumes and net sales were, however, somewhat constrained by component shortages."

The operating loss was 426 million euros, compared to an operating profit of 1.47 billion euros for the corresponding business period in 2008.

The company sold 108.5 million handsets during the quarter, down 15 per cent year-on-year and up 5 per cent compared to the second quarter of 2009.

Nokia estimated its share of the global mobile handset market to be 38 per cent, in line with its share in second-quarter 2009 as well as year-on-year.

In its outlook, Nokia revised its earlier estimate for the global handset market for 2009. Instead of a 10 per cent drop, it estimated the market would shrink 7 per cent.

Nokia forecast its share of the market would remain flat for 2009.

The group said it sold 27.1 million units in Europe, down 1 per cent year-on-year while in Asia and the Pacific region sales fell over 9 per cent to 30.5 million units, and dipped over 6 per cent in China where it sold 18.5 million units.

Sales in Latin America were off almost 12 per cent cent to 9.7 million units, and were down over 30 per cent to 3.1 million units in North America.

Sales dipped over 8 per cent to 19.6 million units in the Middle East and Africa.

Other trends included that the average selling prices for its handsets was 62 euros, the same as in second-quarter 2009 but down from 72 euros year-on-year.

Net sales for the 50-50 joint venture Nokia Siemens Networks - launched 2007 between Nokia and Germany's Siemens - declined 20 per cent year-on-year to 2.8 billion euros. (dpa)