Finland's SanomaWSOY Q4 profits miss forecasts

HELSINKI, Feb 7 (Reuters) - Top Nordic media house SanomaWSOY SWS1V.HE reported lower-than-expected fourth quarter profits, hit by weak performances in its newspaper unit and books and education division.

The company's operating profit in October through December declined to 68.3 million euros ($100 million) from 73.9 million a year earlier, the company said on Thursday, missing the average forecast of 82 million in a Reuters poll of 10 analysts.

SanomaWSOY, whose operations range from running cinemas to book and magazine publishing, said it expects 2008 net sales to grow in line with 2007 growth of about 6.7 percent, and operating profit, excluding major one-off capital gains, to improve. (Reporting by Helsinki newsroom; Editing by David Holmes)