Stay up to date with notifications from The Independent

Notifications can be managed in browser preferences.

Business Briefing: High-flying Nokia must fulfil the City's great expectations

Tony Glover
Sunday 14 October 2007 00:00 BST
Comments

What is everyone talking about?

The City is braced for what it believes will be a stellar set of results when Nokia reports its third-quarter earnings on Thursday, but the Finnish phonemaker will still have some fast talking to do to convince analysts that it has the right strategies in place for future growth.

Richard Windsor, an analyst at Nomura Securities, said: "These will be an excellent set of results... The question is to what extent these high expectations have already been factored in."

"The major question will be the strength of the global handset market," said WestLB analyst Thomas Langer. "Sony and Samsung have had good sales, suggesting the handset market is strong, particularly at the high end and for emerging markets. Motorola is again likely to be the loser with its recent release of mid-range handsets."

What does the future hold?

"The big event is Nokia's strategy presentation on 4 December. We are still waiting for online background. Nokia has been sitting on its internet strategy for two years and should now open up as it is crucial to the company's future growth," added Mr Langer. "The acquisition of NavTech [a satellite navigation company] showed how serious Nokia is in this space."

What will the figures show?

Analysts and investors are expecting some heady figures. The consensus is for 35 cent earnings per share but the final figure could be higher following recent buoyant sales of Nokia's new handsets. Revenues will come in at about €13.2bn (£9.19bn) with an operating margin of 13.7 per cent.

Join our commenting forum

Join thought-provoking conversations, follow other Independent readers and see their replies

Comments

Thank you for registering

Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged inPlease refresh your browser to be logged in