HELSINKI, Oct 31 (Reuters) - Finnish tyre maker Nokian Renkaat on Friday reported quarterly profit below market expectations and said its full-year operating profit could end up 22 percent lower from the previous year due to weak sales in Russia.
Nokian, whose strong presence in Russia has earlier been seen as the company's strength, said third-quarter operating profit fell 25 percent from a year earlier to 72.1 million euros (90.6 million), much below analysts' average expectation of 82.5 million euros in a Reuters poll.
The company updated its full-year guidance by saying its sales are set to decline and operating profit is seen around 300-320 million euros, down from 385.5 million euros in 2013. It had previously forecast falling sales and operating profit.
"We have been fighting this year to compensate the negative impact from the effects of the Russia-Ukraine crisis; currencies in Russia and CIS weakened clearly against the euro, and the purchasing power started to fall. This made consumers buy less and cheaper products," chief executive Ari Lehtoranta said in a statement. (1 US dollar = 0.7961 euro) (Reporting by Jussi Rosendahl; Editing by Sunil Nair)