Nokia profit jumps 85pc
Friday, 19 October 2007
TOKYO, Oct 18 (Bloomberg): Nokia Oyj, the world's biggest maker of mobile phones, said third-quarter profit surged 85 per cent, beating analysts' estimates, as new models helped capture market share from Motorola Inc.
Net income increased to 1.56 billion euros ($2.23 billion), or 40 cents a share, from 845 million euros, or 21 cents, a year earlier. Sales rose 28 per cent to 12.9 billion euros, Espoo, Finland-based Nokia said today in an e-mailed statement.
Nokia shares jumped as much as 7.5 per cent after the report. The company introduced higher-priced handsets with navigation and multimedia functions to win customers from Motorola, which posted two straight quarterly losses this year. Nokia Chief Executive Officer Olli-Pekka Kallasvuo has made acquisitions to spur growth from Internet content such as music, games and maps, taking on Apple Inc. and TomTom NV.
``Nokia's gap to the number two handset manufacturer has never been this big before,'' Michael Schroeder, an analyst at Kaupthing Bank in Helsinki, said in a note before the release.
The company, which has the widest range of handsets in the market, was expected to post net income of 1.33 billion euros, or 34 cents a share, on sales of 13.2 billion euros, based on 20 analysts' estimates compiled by Bloomberg.
Nokia shares traded at 27.15 euros as of 1:19 p.m. in Helsinki. Before today, Nokia shares had gained 65 per cent this year, their best year since 1999, giving the company a market value of 101 billion euros. The Dow Jones Stoxx 600 Index for the biggest companies in Europe had gained 5.9 per cent this year.
Nokia, whose devices are used by 900 million people, is assembling all its Internet services on the Ovi Web site, which means ``door'' in Finnish. Ovi will include Nokia Music Store, maps and N-Gage games. To accelerate the new strategy, Nokia agreed earlier this month to buy Navteq Corp., the world's biggest maker of digital maps, for $8.1 billion.
Net income increased to 1.56 billion euros ($2.23 billion), or 40 cents a share, from 845 million euros, or 21 cents, a year earlier. Sales rose 28 per cent to 12.9 billion euros, Espoo, Finland-based Nokia said today in an e-mailed statement.
Nokia shares jumped as much as 7.5 per cent after the report. The company introduced higher-priced handsets with navigation and multimedia functions to win customers from Motorola, which posted two straight quarterly losses this year. Nokia Chief Executive Officer Olli-Pekka Kallasvuo has made acquisitions to spur growth from Internet content such as music, games and maps, taking on Apple Inc. and TomTom NV.
``Nokia's gap to the number two handset manufacturer has never been this big before,'' Michael Schroeder, an analyst at Kaupthing Bank in Helsinki, said in a note before the release.
The company, which has the widest range of handsets in the market, was expected to post net income of 1.33 billion euros, or 34 cents a share, on sales of 13.2 billion euros, based on 20 analysts' estimates compiled by Bloomberg.
Nokia shares traded at 27.15 euros as of 1:19 p.m. in Helsinki. Before today, Nokia shares had gained 65 per cent this year, their best year since 1999, giving the company a market value of 101 billion euros. The Dow Jones Stoxx 600 Index for the biggest companies in Europe had gained 5.9 per cent this year.
Nokia, whose devices are used by 900 million people, is assembling all its Internet services on the Ovi Web site, which means ``door'' in Finnish. Ovi will include Nokia Music Store, maps and N-Gage games. To accelerate the new strategy, Nokia agreed earlier this month to buy Navteq Corp., the world's biggest maker of digital maps, for $8.1 billion.