Nokia boosts profits in 2006

Nokia has posted impressive figures for its full year, with sales and operating and net profits well up, but its enterprise business continued to struggle.

For the year, the firm said 2006 sales increased 20% to 41.1bn euros (£28.34bn) when compared to 2005, and that operating profits hit 5.48bn euros, a jump of 18%.

In addition, net profits rose 19% to 4.3bn euros. One bad mark was that operating margins actually fell slightly from 13.6% to 13.3%.

In addition, one worrying trend is that the company’s enterprise division continues to haemorrhage cash - like in 2005, this division again lost 258m euros.

The division was set up to help firms integrate their mobile technology with their fixed line systems, but Nokia has struggled to make it financially work, despite mobile integration being a key requirement by firms.

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