HELSINKI, FINLAND — FINNISH telecom equipment group Nokia yesterday said its third quarter profits more than quadrupled from a year ago, helped mostly by a one-off tax-related gain.

Between July and September, net profit jumped more than four times to (euro) 757 million (US$959 million) compared to a year earlier, said the group, which sold its struggling mobile phone business to Microsoft last year.

The group took a charge for its navigation application business HERE, raising a previous estimate of (euro) 1.2 billion to (euro) 2 billion.

But that was more than offset by a 2-billion euro tax gain arising from its businesses in Germany and Finland.

Excluding that exceptional income, the company was still posting an operational loss, which reached (euro) 810 million euros for the quarter.

Once the world leader in the mobile phone sector, Nokia now focuses on navigation systems as well as innovation and licensing in the mobile technology business.

AFP