Nokia Crawls Back into Profit in Q4

Nokia has released its fourth-quarter and full year financial reports - and announced that for the fourth-quarter of the year, revenues fell by 20 per cent to EUR8.04 billion, and net profits jumped to EUR255 million compared to a loss of EUR1.08 billion a year ago.

For the full year, sales were down by 22 percent to EUR30.18 billion, but the net loss came in at EUR3.8 billion.

Commenting on the results, Stephen Elop, Nokia CEO, said: "We are very encouraged that our team's execution against our business strategy has started to translate into financial results. Most notably we are pleased that Nokia Group reached underlying operating profitability in the fourth quarter and for the full year 2012."

In the fourth quarter 2012, Devices & Services total smartphone volumes were 15.9 million units, composed of 9.3 million Asha full touch smartphones; 4.4 million Lumia smartphones and 2.2 million Symbian smartphones.

During the quarter the company says that it was also affected by supply constraints as it ramped up production capacity, particularly related to the Lumia 920, which have continued into the first quarter 2013.

The company saw an increase in sales in North America, primarily due to higher net sales and volumes of our Lumia devices. This was however offset by declining sales in China, particularly of the older Symbian smartphones.

During the fourth quarter 2012 we shipped 79.6 million of its more basic mobile phones, of which 9.3 million were Asha full touch smartphones. On a year-on-year basis, the decrease in mobile phones volumes in the fourth quarter 2012 was primarily due to the decline in volumes of lower priced devices below EUR 30.

The Nokia Siemens Networks joint venture saw revenues rise by 5 percent to EUR3.99 billion, and its gross margin improve to 36%, from 29% a year ago.

On a regional basis, the year-on-year growth was primarily due to higher net sales in Asia Pacific, most notably in Japan which saw strong growth in sales of both infrastructure equipment and services, as well as in North America which also saw strong growth in sales of both infrastructure equipment and services. This was partially offset by lower sales in Europe, most notably in Western Europe due to declines in sales of both infrastructure equipment and services.

At the end of the fourth quarter 2012, Nokia Siemens Networks had approximately 58, 400 employees, a reduction of approximately 15, 300 compared to fourth quarter 2011.