Nokia says 2009 profit plunges but wins market share

HELSINKI: Nokia, the world's top mobile phone maker, reported a 78 per cent fall in its 2009 net profit on Thursday but said it had won market share from competitors in the last three months of the year.

"Our performance in smartphones, combined with continuing success in the emerging markets, helped us increase sales in our Devices & Services unit, both quarter-on-quarter and year-on-year," Nokia chief executive Olli-Pekka Kallasvuo said in a statement.

Shares in Nokia jumped on the news and were up by 10.37 per cent at 9.96 euros on the Helsinki stock exchange, which was up 2.37 per cent.

The Finnish company reported full-year net profit of 900 million euros ($1.26 billion) for 2009, down from 4.0 billion euros a year earlier and said sales had shrunk by 19.2 per cent to 41 billion euros.