Nokia has returned to profitability, announcing an operating profit of €439m (£372m) for the fourth quarter, contrasting sharply with a €954m loss a year ago. But the troubled handset maker scrapped its dividend for in order to conserve cash. Nokia’s revenues for the quarter were €8bn, an 11 per cent increase on the previous quarter.

There was a slight increase in the number of smartphones sold, to 6.6m, compared to 6.3m in the previous quarter. 4.4m of these were Lumia Windows Phone handsets, the rest, Symbian.  To give this some context, Apple’s latest quarterly results revealed sales of 47.8m iPhones…

“We are very encouraged that our teams execution against our business strategy has started to translate into financial results,” said Nokia CEO, Stephen Elop. “Most notably, we are pleased that Nokia Group reached underlying operating profitability in the fourth quarter and for the full year 2012.

“While the first half of 2012 was difficult for Nokia Group, in Q4 2012 we strengthened our financial position, improved our underlying operating margin in Devices & Services, introduced the HERE brand to expand our mapping and location experiences, and drove record profitability in Nokia Siemens Networks.

“We remain focused on moving through our transition, which includes continuing to improve our product competitiveness, accelerate the way we operate and manage our costs effectively. All of these efforts are aimed at improving our financial performance and delivering more value to our shareholders.”