Nokia reaffirmed its position as the world's top mobile phone maker yesterday by beating forecasts to announce a 76 per cent jump in first-quarter pre-tax profits and expectations of a 40 per cent or more growth in sales this year.

Europe's biggest firm by market capitalisation said pre-tax profits in the first three months of the year rose to €1.33 billion (£1.05 billion) against analysts' expectations of €1.1 billion, while sales rose 69 per cent to €6.54 billion (£5.15 billion), also beating forecasts.