Nokia beats market expectations in third-quarter
Finland’s Nokia on Thursday beat market expectations as it reported strong third-quarter profit growth and lifted the profitability outlook for its core network unit on the back of network roll-outs in North America and China.
The network unit showed a core operating profit margin of 13.5 percent, up from 11.0 percent in the second quarter and topping analysts’ average forecast of 9.9 percent in a Reuters poll.
“Networks benefited from some unique developments in the quarter, with a business mix weighted toward Mobile Broadband and regional mix that included strong gains in North America,” chief executive Rajeev Suri said in a statement.
Nokia, which ranks third in the global network-equipment market after Ericsson and Huawei Technologies Co Ltd, said it now expects the network unit’s full-year core operating margin to be slightly above 11 percent, compared with its previous forecast of at or slightly above the higher end of a range of 5 percent to 10 percent.
Nokia’s total underlying operating profit for the July-September period rose as much as 32 percent from the previous quarter to 457 million euros ($578 million). Analysts had expected an operating profit of 359 million euros.
Nokia in April closed the deal to sell its former flagship phone business to Microsoft, leaving it with the network equipment unit, navigation technology business and a smartphone patent portfolio.
Source: Reuters-Nokia beats market expectations in third-quarter
