HELSINKI (Reuters) - Nokia reported on Thursday a sharp drop in second quarter profits, further increasing the pressure on embattled Chief Executive Olli-Pekka Kallasvuo.
Nokia's underlying second-quarter earnings per share fell 27 percent from a year ago to 0.11 euros as the firm struggles to keep pace with smartphone rivals Apple and Google.
Nokia warned on June 16 phone sales and profits in the quarter would be weaker than earlier forecast, with the Finnish firm forced to slash prices to battle against Apple's iPhone and smartphones using Google's software.
Kallasvuo, who has spent more than half of this life at the company, may be ousted already this month, the Wall Street Journal reported earlier this week.
A Nokia spokeswoman declined to comment after the result on whether Kallasvuo still enjoys board support.
The firm has been rocked by two profit warnings and a management shakeup in the second quarter alone.
Shares in Nokia were up 0.7 percent, with the Stoxx 600 European technology index up 0.4 percent. Nokia shares have dropped around 20 percent so far this year, strongly underperforming the technology index, which is up 7 percent.
(Reporting by Tarmo Virki and Terhi Kinnunen)
