HELSINKI: Finnish telecoms network equipment maker Nokia said Thursday that it was able to boost its profits in the third quarter despite the worldwide shortage of computer chips. Nokia said in a statement its bottom-line net profit rose by 77 percent to 342 million euros ($400 million) in the period from July to September.

Despite the increase, "We would have been able to grow faster had there been more components available," CEO Pekka Lundmark told reporters on Thursday. "The uncertainty around the global semiconductor market limits our visibility into Q4 and 2022," Lundmark said, warning that "it will get worse before it gets better."

"We hope that we will gradually start seeing improvement during 2022, but can I promise that 100 percent? No," Lundmark said. Posting a 2 percent year-on-year net sales increase to 5.4 billion euros ($6.3 billion), the Finnish group reiterated its full year guidance - which it increased in June to a comparable operating margin of 10-12 percent - and said it now expects to finish the year "towards the upper end" of that bracket.