Nokia lifts its comparable operating margin to 11.7 percent as sales to AI and cloud customers more than double

Sales to AI and cloud customers rose 123 percent at Nokia in the third quarter, and orders from the same group rose 118 percent. The Finnish network equipment maker reported the figures in its interim report on Thursday.

Group net sales grew 10 percent to €5.15bn. The comparable operating margin widened to 11.7 percent from 9.5 percent, though the reported margin fell to 3.8 percent, which the company put down to faster restructuring and integration costs. Comparable earnings were 9 euro cents a share.

The full-year outlook held. Nokia now assumes €1.1bn of restructuring charges and an extra €400m of working capital this year, and it lowered its cash conversion assumption to between 35 and 55 percent.