Nokia back in black, posts 322 mn euro profit for Sep quarter

The world's largest mobile phone manufacturer had suffered a 913 million euro loss in the corresponding quarter of the previous year, after being saddled with massive impairment charges.

Faced with intense competition, especially in the smart phone segment, Nokia is looking to bolster its overall market share under newly-appointed CEO Stephen Elop.The higher September quarter profits came on the back of increased revenue of 10.27 billion euros in the September quarter of 2010, an increase of about 5 per cent compared to the same period a year ago.

"Our company faces a remarkably disruptive time in the industry, with recent results demonstrating that we must reassess our role in and our approach to this industry," Elop said in a statement.

The Finnish entity, which has a good presence in India, saw total mobile device volumes of 110.4 million units in the September quarter, 2 per cent more than in the comparable period last year.

Telecom equipment-maker Nokia Siemens Networks -- a joint venture between Nokia and Germany's Siemens -- saw its total sales climb 7 per cent to 2.9 billion euros on the back of better market prospects in India, among other countries.

"Net sales in the third quarter of 2010 benefited from some improvement in overall component availability, as well as an improvement in the industry-wide issue related to security clearances in India, which was preventing the completion of product sales to customers, compared to the second quarter, 2010," the statement said.
For the 2010 fourth quarter, Nokia expects devices and services net sales to be in the range of 8.2 to 8.7 billion euros.