But Finnish company says revenue to be hurt by dollar; 3Q earnings seen at or above estimates.
September 9, 2003: 5:47 AM EDT
HELSINKI, Finland (Reuters) - Nokia, the world's top cellphone maker, said Tuesday brisk consumer demand for handsets will generate third-quarter earnings at the top end or above previous guidance.
"During the quarter, mobile phone volume growth for Nokia and the industry overall has been strong," Nokia said in its mid-quarter trading statement.
The Finnish firm said pro-forma earnings for the quarter would be at the top end of or slightly above its previously announced range of 0.15-0.17 per share, down from 0.18 a year ago.
But it repeated mobile phone revenue sales would be flat to lower year-on-year, despite healthy volume growth, due to a stronger dollar in the comparable period.
The statement follows a quarterly upgrade from Nokia supplier RF Micro Devices on Monday, and confirms demand in the mobile phone industry is on the rise, fueled in part by robust growth in developing markets such as India and China.
Nokia repeated it expected mobile phone handset unit sales to rise well above 10 percent in the quarter, outpacing the market and with profitability at its core mobile phones unit continuing to be strong.
Nokia shares slipped on the news, trading off 1.5 percent at 14.86. Analysts said the share, up two percent prior to the news, was hit as investors had hoped Nokia would raise its mobile phones unit sales guidance.
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