Robust demand for phones in emerging markets lifted fourth-quarter sales and profits at Nokia Oyj, the world's top handset maker, sending its shares sharply higher.
The Finnish company, which makes more than one in every three mobile phones sold globally, reported stronger-than-expected earnings and margins and sales that beat most analyst expectations.
Nokia's earnings per share rose to 0.32 euros from 0.25 a year ago, compared with an average forecast of 0.28 euros in a Reuters poll of 37 analysts, where estimates ranged from 0.25 to 0.33 euros. The reported EPS figure included 0.02 euros of one-off gains, which were not expected by analysts. Nokia stock rose 5.9 percent after the report to 16.40 euros, valuing the firm at 66 billion euros.
Sales rose 13 percent to 11.7 billion euros ($15.22 billion), beating the analysts' average projection of 11.57 billion. Profits at Nokia's key Mobile Phones unit rose to 1.26 billion euros, at the top end of expectations in the poll. "The results surprised with their strength, especially the Mobile Phones unit was better than we had expected, in the challenging pricing environment," said analyst Karri Rinta from Handelsbanken.
"Even with the ASP (average selling price) going down, volumes pushed the profitability up in mobile phones." Nokia said the average sale price of its phones fell to 89 euros in the three-month period covering Christmas, compared with analysts' average expectation of 92 euros and a range from 87 to 95 euros.
Nokia sold 106 million handsets in the quarter, up 19 percent on a year ago, more than 100 million for the first time, giving it a market share of 36 percent, in line with forecasts. Analysts had forecast sales of 103 million phones.
Nokia proposed to pay a dividend of 0.43 euros per share for 2006, up from 0.37 euros a year ago. Its gross margin slipped to 32.4 percent from 34.1 percent, falling for an 11th consecutive quarter, but beating the average of analysts' forecasts of 31.9 percent.
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