Nokia net profit drops, yet beats expectations

Nokia Corp. reported Thursday fourth-quarter net profit that beat market expectations, despite a slowing telecom-equipment market.

The Finnish telecommunications company said net profit for the three-month period ended Dec. 31 was 633 million euros ($682 million), compared with EUR1.79 billion in the comparable period a year earlier. Nokia’s 2015 fourth-quarter was buoyed by the sale of its digital-mapping business to a group of German car makers.

Analysts polled by FactSet had expected net profit of EUR404 million in 4Q 2016.

The 4Q results cap the first full-year since Nokia acquired French rival Alcatel-Lucent SA.

Revenue for the quarter was EUR6.64 billion, compared with EUR3.61 billion as a stand-alone company and slightly below analysts’ expectations of EUR6.77 billion.

Nokia said its board of directors will propose a dividend of EUR0.17 a share for 2016, compared with EUR 0.16 for 2015.

Source: MarketWatch