Nokia's third-quarter pre-tax profits jumped 36 per cent from a year earlier to 937 million euros ($1.01 billion), beating a consensus forecast by eight per cent. The result was 6.8 per cent up on the second quarter. "Based on the very strong third quarter, we feel confident that our full-year 1999 sales growth will exceed 40 per cent," Chief Executive Jorma Ollila said.

"We feel more confident about the fourth quarter after this quarter." Nokia will return to its long-term growth target of 25-35 per cent sales growth next year, he said. Nokia's top markets were the United States, where Nokia would keep expanding production capacity, China and Britain.