Nokia doubles its profits

The Finnish firm made 1.05bn euros ($1.13bn; £700m) in the last three months of 2002, compared with 450m euros a year earlier.

Nokia Q4 results

But the firm cautioned that it expected weak sales in the first three months of 2003, despite the unexpectedly strong end to 2002.

And the headline figures are less impressive when taking into account a 649m euro one-time cost which dented profits a year earlier.

Net profits after stripping out such costs rose by a more modest 8%.

Gadget power

Nokia's chief executive, Jorma Ollila, said the mobile market was moving into a new phase of advanced features and services, driven by colour screens, imaging, messaging and mobile games

And he said he was determined that Nokia would be at the forefront of these developments.

But sales of the latest colour-screen models have not been as good as hoped for.

Mr Ollila also cautioned that handset prices were likely to be raised after March.

Beating the competition

The Finnish firm already commands an estimated 38% market share and is aiming to increase its market dominance further still.

Its market share has increased for five years in a row, and is now more than double its nearest rival - Motorola of the US.

The overall market saw handset and network equipment sales slump last year.

Large debts stopped many telecoms operators pressing ahead with planned upgrades to higher-speed networks.

And the global economic slowdown made consumers cautious about buying the latest models.

Trend setter

Industry experts had been waiting eagerly for Nokia's results, which they see as a barometer of the outlook for technology firms in general.

Nokia shares had a volatile day's trading on the Helsinki stock market, before closing 3.4% lower.

Nokia's share price more than halved in value in 2002 but outperformed many of its peers nevertheless.