Nokia finances better than expected
Nokia finances

Nokia Lumia series helps the Finnish giant prove pessimists wrong when it came to financial figures for Q4 2012.

The recent launch of Nokia Lumia 920 flagship and its sibling Windows mobile casino tools has assisted the Finnish manufacturer to beat the expectations for the non-IFRS operating margin. The predictions were for negative 2-10%, however Nokia managed to achieve figures between break-even and positive 2%.

Experts say that the Windows mobile gambling devices helped the figures to produce positive results. Nokia Devices and Services department will report EUR 2.5 billion net sales, with almost half of that stemming from sales of smartphones (including the Asha series). Another factor helping the figures beat expectations was the lower than expected operating expenses.

All in all, Nokia sold 79.6 million phones, which included 9.3 million Asha units, and 6.6 million smartphones including 4.4 million Lumias and 2.2 Symbian-running devices. Another EUR 50 million will come from non-recurring IPR income (RIM had to pay this EUR 50 million following a patent settlement).

Another positive news is that the Nokia Siemens networks also exceeded expectations and resulted in a profit for a third consecutive quarter. Nokia non-IFRS operating margin for the division is expected to be around 13-15% for the Q4 2012.

However, if the 2012 year-end was positive for Nokia, the start of 2013 looks less positive – the usually weak Q1 will surely produce negative non-IFRS operating margin for the Finnish giant.