Nokia's profit down, but revenue up
HELSINKI • Finnish telecom equipment giant Nokia's net profit fell by 29 per cent in 2015 to €2.45 billion (S$3.8 billion) ahead of acquiring its French-American rival Alcatel-Lucent, the company said yesterday.
The drop was due to the 2014 result including €5.4 billion that Nokia gained from selling its unprofitable handset unit to Microsoft.
But the company said operating profit grew by 20 per cent last year and its net revenue by 6 per cent.
Nokia has gone through 2½ years of radical change. In 2013 it bought 50 per cent of its network activities from Germany's Siemens; in 2014 it divested its mobile phone business; and in 2015 it sold its mapping unit Here and took control of Alcatel-Lucent.
AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE
Malaysia's industrial production rises
KUALA LUMPUR • Malaysia's December industrial production rose 2.7 per cent from a year earlier due to growth in manufacturing and electricity production, government data showed yesterday.
The figure was well above the median forecast of 0.8 per cent from a Reuters poll of economists. But mining sector output fell by 1.5 per cent in December from the same month in 2014 due to a decrease in the natural gas index and crude oil index.
Malaysia's exports in December grew 1.4 per cent from a year earlier amid slumping demand for the country's commodities.
REUTERS