HELSINKI: Nokia Corp says fourth-quarter profit fell to 633 million euros ($682 million) from 1.8 billion euros a year earlier, but sales almost doubled to 6.6 billion euros.

Describing 2016 as a time of transition, CEO Rajeev Suri says that he was disappointed with the result but that the year ended "well-positioned for the future" for the Finland-based telecoms networks provider despite the challenging climate in broadband networks.

Nokia said Thursday that net sales for the period were up from 3.6 billion euros a year earlier, but that the 2016 results weren't directly comparable as it acquired Alcatel-Lucent during the year.

The result beat market expectations and the company's share price was up slightly at 4.39 euros in morning trading in Helsinki.