Nokia's network business surprises all with 10 percent rise in Q1 profit

Nokia reported a surprise year-on-year rise in the quarterly profit of its network equipment unit, its core business after the sale of phone division to Microsoft   The Finnish company said its first-quarter operating profit for the networks business grew 10 percent from a year ago to 216 million euros ($299 million), topping all forecasts in a Reuters poll of analysts which had an average expectation of 143 million euros.   Nokia’s group earnings per share in the quarter were 0.04 euros, ahead of the market expectation of 0.03 euros.   Nokia earlier on Tuesday announced that Rajeev Suri, the chief of its networks unit, **will become the group's next chief executive** next month and said it would return 2.25 billion euros to shareholders.   The company’s mobile division has now officially been taken over by Microsoft, so the network equipment unit is the key Nokia business and could possibly be the only place where the name still remains in use. Microsoft has renamed the Nokia mobile business unit to Microsoft Mobile, indicating a shift in brand name as well.   With inputs from Reuters