Seems like people like the numbers -- indications are that shares are up over 5% in Europe. That would translate to an opening of over 87. Bravo!
-------
Nokia 2nd-Quarter Profit Soars 63%, Shares Surge
Helsinki, July 24 (Bloomberg) -- Nokia Oyj, the world's No. 2 mobile phone maker, said second-quarter net rose 63 percent, fueled by demand for its networks and new phones.
Profit at the Finnish company, which is second to Motorola Inc., rose to 2.172 billion markkaa ($274 million), or 3.82 markkaa per share, from 1.332 billion, or 2.35 per share. As analysts expected 1.886 billion, the shares surged 5 percent.
''Our good competitive position and strong performance in the first half of the year give us reason to believe that in 1998 we will somewhat exceed our'' sales growth target of 25 to 35 percent, said Chief Executive Jorma Ollila in a statement.
Nokia is introducing new phone models amid competition from Philips Electronics NV and Lucent Technologies Inc. The company is also beefing up its networks unit -- which sells equipment for transmitting calls between mobile phones. As demand surges, Nokia now expects global mobile phone users will triple to 600 million by the end of 2001.
Second-quarter pretax profit rose to 3.246 billion markkaa from 1.879 billion. Analysts were looking for profit before tax of 2.786 billion markkaa.
New Models
Sales in the mobile phone unit, which claims a fifth of the global market, rose 50 percent to 10.995 billion markkaa. Nokia said its 5100 model, with colored covers that can be easily changed, recorded the fastest-ever start-up sales growth for a new Nokia model.
Nokia will start selling the 8810 GSM phone and the 6150 dual-band GSM phone, both set to be the smallest in their class, in the third quarter.
The strongest growth was in the United States, where users are rapidly switching to digital from analogue phones, and China, which has become the world's largest market for digital phones. Overall, prices fell less than Nokia expected.
''Now that the new, highly successful models are out, Nokia is the must-have brand,'' said Dennis Gross, an analyst at Williams de Broe.
The telecommunications unit, which sells networks, saw sales rise 45 percent to 6.293 billion markkaa.
''Strong growth of sales and the healthy order inflow development continued,'' Ollila said. The company won ''several new customers'' and existing customers are expanding their networks, he said.
Nokia's operating profit rose to 3.346 billion markkaa from 1.908 billion, while sales rose to 18.420 billion markkaa from 13.061 billion.
Nokia shares recently traded at 495 markkaa, up 25 from yesterday and up 31 from before the report.
07:39:54 07/24/1998 |
