(Corrects quarter in second paragraph to third, not second)
HELSINKI (Reuters) -Telecom equipment maker Nokia reported stronger-than-expected third-quarter operating profits on Thursday as development investments, strategy updates and cost cuts continued to drive a turnaround in the business.
Third-quarter net sales rose 2% to 5.4 billion euros ($6.27 billion) from 5.3 billion a year ago, in line with analyst expectations.
“The third quarter saw us achieve 2% constant currency net sales growth despite the impact of earlier communicated headwinds in North America for Mobile Networks and global supply chain constraints,” Chief Executive Pekka Lundmark said in a statement.
He added that Nokia now expects comparable operating profit margin to be towards the upper end of the target range of 10% to 12%.
July-September comparable operating profit rose to 633 million euros from 486 million last year, beating the 488 million euro mean forecast of eleven analysts polled by Refinitiv.
Nokia had warned profits would be less pronounced in the second half of 2021 due to possible problems from the semiconductor shortage, lost market share and having to lower prices in the highly competitive North American market.
In July, Nokia won its first 5G radio contract in China, while Nordic rival Ericsson lost market share after Sweden last year decided to ban Chinese vendors from their 5G networks.
($1 = 0.8618 euros)
(Reporting by Essi Lehto, editing by Terje Solsvik)
