Nokia beat out analyst expectations to deliver higher than expected Q4 profits, driven primarily by robust sales in its North America business.
The operating profit for the quarter of €470 million showed year-on-year growth of 35%, up from €349 million. It also demonstrated sequential growth of 18%.
Meanwhile Nokia reported fourth-quarter revenues of €3.8 billion.
Nokia’s full year net sales remained steady at €12.7 billion, the same as 2013.
The profit growth came from network roll-outs of 4G mobile services in North America for its core network equipment business.
Gartner analyst Sylvain Fabre believed that the results were "better than expected". He commented that the "strong results for North America" were "good news but continued cause for concern", warning that the Finland-based telecoms company would have to divest business to expanding markets such as China to continue to see growth.
"The U.S. is flattening out as an LTE revenue source; it’s important that over time we see they can move to new markets."
Fabre added that although Nokia was "over-exposed" to North America, it was "making the most of it."
CEO Rajeev Suri commented:
"2014 was a time of significant change for Nokia and we ended the year in a renewed position of strength."
"The power of the new Nokia could be seen in our fourth quarter results. All of our businesses delivered strong year-on-year net sales growth. Profitability was excellent in Nokia Networks, and we were particularly pleased with our net sales growth in North America and core networks. HERE continued its momentum in the automotive segment, and the early reception to the Nokia N1 tablet has been remarkably favourable, showing the ongoing power of the Nokia brand and the long-term potential of our brand licensing business.
"Overall, while we must remain focused on our execution, I believe that Nokia is well positioned to meet its goals for the year.
