HispanicBusiness

Nokia posted a fourth quarter net profit of 255 million euros (339 million dollars), but the Finnish mobile phone maker's board proposed that no dividend should be paid to shareholders for 2012.

The profit in the quarter compared to a loss of 1.07 billion euros in the corresponding business period 2012 that included a writedown on its unit that offers digital mapping and social location services.

The company earlier this month released better-than-expected results for its mainstay devices and services division, and joint venture Nokia Siemens Networks.

Fourth quarter net sales declined 20 per cent year-on-year to 8 billion euros but were up 11 per cent on the third quarter.

Nokia said it sold 86.3 million handsets in the quarter, of which 15.9 million were smartphones. The smartphone sales were down 55 per cent year-on-year but up 26 per cent compared to the preceding quarter.

Total sales of handsets were down 24 per cent year-on-year.

Chief executive Stephen Elop said he was pleased over "underlying operating profitability in the fourth quarter and for the full year 2012" but added efforts would continue to manage costs.

For the full-year, Nokia's operating loss doubled to 2.3 billion euros, while turnover fell 22 per cent to 30.2 billion euros. The dividend in 2011 was 0.20 euros per share.

In 2011, Nokia joined forces with Microsoft in developing platforms for mobile phones, dropping its own Symbian system in favour of the Windows Phone system.

The average sale price of Nokia's handsets in the quarter was 45 euros, while it was 43 euros in the preceding quarter. The average sale price of Nokia's smartphones was 186 euros, up 20 per cent on the third quarter.