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The mighty Finn: Nokia's 'good news at last' in mobile sector
Nokia has amazed the beleaguered mobile communications sector by announcing that it still expects to meet earlier profit predictions for the first quarter of 2001.

By Ben King

Published: Friday 16 March 2001

The news represents a reprieve from the reports of doom and gloom emitting from the mobile sector, with Motorola announcing 7,000 job cuts in its handset division earlier this week. Alcatel has also warned that handset sales are significantly down.

Nokia cut its estimates for growth in mobile phone sales from 25 per cent to between 15 and 20 per cent, but held to previously announced predictions of 0.19 euro for earnings per share.

In response, shares in the Finnish mobile phone giant bounced up over 13 per cent yesterday, triggering a copycat rise in several other mobile phone manufacturers and telcos.

The company also announced that it was not suffering the same inventory problems as Alcatel, which has had to close two factories for a week to allow excess stock in warehouses and shops to clear.