Nokia Shrugs Off Chip Problems to Double Profit in Q3 2021

Finnish telecoms equipment maker Nokia said Thursday that it was able to double its profits in the third quarter of the current year, despite the worldwide shortage of computer chips.

Nokia said in a statement its bottom-line net profit rose by 77 percent to EUR 342 million (roughly Rs. 2,700 crore) in the period from July to September.

"The uncertainty around the global semiconductor market limits our visibility into Q4 and 2022," said chief executive, Pekka Lundmark.

"We are working closely not only with our suppliers to ensure component availability, but also with our customers."

Posting a 2 percent year-on-year net sales increase to EUR 5.4 billion (roughly Rs. 46,900 crore), the Finnish group reiterated its full year guidance — which it increased in June to a comparable operating margin of 10-12 percent — and said it now expects to finish the year "towards the upper end" of that bracket.

CEO Lundmark has been credited with turning around the fortunes of the networks giant, which has been flagging in the race with Sweden's Ericsson and China's Huawei to dominate the 5G equipment market.

After taking the helm in mid-2020 Lundmark implemented widespread job cuts, with savings funnelled into developing more competitive technology.

The group has also partly benefitted from the misfortunes of rival Ericsson, which saw as its China market share collapse when Beijing retaliated against Sweden banning Huawei from its 5G rollout.