Nokia Posts Sturdy Revenue After ‘Transformational’ 2021

Finnish telecoms big Nokia reported a stable improve in income in 2021 on Thursday and issued a assured outlook for the approaching years as gross sales rose regardless of provide issues.

“I wish to name it a transformational yr,” CEO Pekka Lundmark instructed reporters after the group posted a web revenue of EUR 1.6 billion (roughly Rs. 13,520 crore), pushed by a 1.6 % improve in gross sales to EUR 22.2 billion (roughly Rs. 1,87,596 crore).

The outcomes comply with a string of quarterly earnings surprises for the community tools maker, which has been flagging within the race for the 5G community tools market towards Sweden’s Ericsson and China’s Huawei.

Since taking the helm in 2019, Lundmark has overseen a wide-ranging restructuring and cost-cutting programme, with financial savings invested into creating new, extra aggressive merchandise.

The strikes are broadly seen as having paid off, with Nokia predicting a comparable working margin of between 11 and 13.5 % for 2022, following 12.5 % in 2021.

Lundmark has till now been cautious of publicly providing longer-term forecasts however on Thursday introduced that the group hopes to push its working margin past 14 % within the subsequent three to 5 years.

Elevated money move additionally meant Nokia would reinstate dividends, which had been suspended in October 2019.

“The board is proposing a EUR 0.08 (roughly Rs. 7) per share dividend for 2021 and we’re additionally initiating a share buyback programme to return as much as EUR 600 million (roughly Rs. 5,070 crore) over two years,” Lundmark mentioned.

Lundmark mentioned the semiconductor scarcity and world provide chain hold-ups have “stabilised” however that the scenario “continues tight”.

He mentioned that anticipated enhancements within the second half of 2022 “won’t assist this yr but within the huge image” however that 2023 ought to look “very completely different”.