(Telecompaper) Nokia continued to show improvement in its underlying results in the second quarter, meeting its outlook for stronger sales of its Lumia smartphones and a small operating loss at its main handset division. Sales were still down 24 percent from a year earlier to EUR 5.695 billion, while the adjusted operating result improved to a profit of EUR 303 million from a loss of EUR 325 million a year ago. The net loss narrowed to EUR 0.06 per share from EUR 0.38 a year earlier. The Devices & Services division posted a 32 percent annual decline in sales to EUR 2.724 billion, but met the outlook for a negative adjusted operating margin of around 2 percent, with a result of minus 1.2 percent. This was an improvement from minus 9 percent a year earlier but down from a positive 0.1 percent in Q1. Lumia sales accelerated, with a 32 percent sequential increase in volumes to 7.4 million units shipped in the quarter. Sales of feature phones were still down 4 percent from the previous quarter to 53.7 million units, but Nokia said it saw some signs of recovery in the latter part of the quarter when it started to ship the new Asha 501. Nokia said it expects the Devices & Services margin to remain around minus 2 percent in Q3, as it ramps up spending to promote new phones. The new products are expected to support sequential growth in the division's sales in Q3. The company also announced plans to accelerate cost reductions at Nokia Siemens Networks, following the recent agreement to take 100 percent control of the network equipment maker.