Nokia reports strong quarter

Nokia reports strong quarter: net profit was €881m, up 29%, while sales grew 18% to €8.4bn. The operating profit grew 19% to €1.15 bn. Nokia sold almost 67m mobile phones in 3Q05 in a total market it estimates at 199m units. It foresees the global mobile phone market to reach 780m units in 2005 and claims a 33% market share. In the quarter, ASP (average selling price) for handsets declined 6% to € 102, steeper than expected. The result was an increased pressure on margins. Gross margin slipped to 33.7% from 36.4%.