Nokia’s third quarter profit beats expectation

Telecom equipment maker Nokia reported stronger-than-expected third-quarter operating profits on Thursday as development investments, strategy updates and cost cuts continued to drive a turnaround in the business.

Second-quarter net sales rose 2 per cent to 5.4 billion euros ($6.27 billion) from 5.3 billion a year ago, in line with analyst expectations.

“The third quarter saw us achieve 2 per cent constant currency net sales growth despite the impact of earlier communicated headwinds in North America for Mobile Networks and global supply chain constraints,” Chief Executive Pekka Lundmark said in a statement.

He added that Nokia now expects comparable operating profit margin to be towards the upper end of the target range of 10 per cent to 12 per cent.