Nokia reports strong 2Q net profit of EUR 2.8 billion on strong sales

Nokia Corp., the world's largest mobile phone maker, said Thursday that second-quarter earnings more than doubled to EUR 2.8 billion (US$3.8 billion) on strong sales and that it had further increased its market share. Its shares rose more than 7 percent.

Net profit for the April-June period came to EUR 2.82 billion (US$3.85 billion), up from EUR 1.14 billion in the second quarter last year, the Finnish company said. Sales rose 28 percent to EUR 12.6 billion (US$17.22 billion) from EUR 9.8 billion in the year-ago period, Nokia said.

The company said it had increased its global market share to 38 percent, up from 34 percent in the same quarter in 2006, selling more than 100 million mobile devices.

Shares in Nokia jumped more than 7 percent in Helsinki to EUR 22.08 (US$30.17).

"Nokia continued to grow in the second quarter thanks to an excellent performance from our device businesses," CEO Olli-Pekka Kallasvuo said. "Nokia's share of the global device market improved to an estimated 38 percent while operating margins in our device businesses were at their highest level in three years."

Nokia, based in Espoo near the Finnish capital, has sales in 130 countries and employs 68,000 people.