Nokia showing signs of life just as selloff looms
NOKIA’S once dominant hold on the mobile phone market continued to weaken in its third quarter ending 30 September, but optimism surrounding the Finnish firm’s future pushed its share price up nearly seven per cent yesterday to €5.36.
Nokia’s revenue fell 22 per cent year-on-year to €5.6bn (£4.8bn), pushing the company back into the black with a €118m operating profit on the back of its record 8m Lumia smartphone sales during the quarter.
But optimism surrounded Nokia Siemens Networks (NSN) – one of the three divisions that will remain once Nokia sells its devices and services division to Microsoft in the first quarter of 2014.
With growing operating margins and profits of €166m, Nokia forecasts the NSN’s operating margin will improve in the fourth quarter to around 12 per cent from 8.4 per cent in the third quarter.
The company said it will build on the strength of NSN, its HERE mapping division and its Advanced Technologies patent division to ensure the growth of these businesses.
“Our strategy work is making good progress and it has already become clear that there are meaningful opportunities for all of our business areas… we have strong assets that we continue to invest in for the long term benefit of our customers and shareholders,” said Nokia chairman Risto Siilasmaa.