Nokia has announced its earnings for the second quarter of 2019 and the net sales have grown by 5% over Q2 2018 sales on a constant currency basis. Profitability improved too with gross profit increasing over Q1 2018.
Check below for earnings highlights.
Earnings highlights:
- Net sales in Q2 2019 were EUR 5.7bn, compared to EUR 5.3bn in Q2 2018. On a constant currency basis, net sales increased 5%. Our strong topline performance was driven by improved industry demand and the competitiveness of our end-to-end portfolio, with growth across four out of six regions and all customer types.
- Non-IFRS diluted EPS in Q2 2019 was EUR 0.05, compared to EUR 0.03 in Q2 2018, primarily driven by solid operational execution, which yielded gross profit improvements across Networks, Nokia Software and Nokia Technologies.
- Reported diluted EPS in Q2 2019 was negative EUR 0.03, compared to negative EUR 0.05 in Q2 2018, primarily driven by higher gross profit, partially offset by a net negative fluctuation in financial income and expenses.
- In Q2 2019, net cash and current financial investments decreased sequentially by approximately EUR 1.5bn. This decrease was primarily due to anticipated cash outflows including the payment of 2018 performance-related incentives to employees, payment of the quarterly dividend, as well as restructuring and associated cash outflows, which together totaled approximately EUR 900 million. In addition, approximately EUR 350 million of the decline was temporary in nature and is expected to reverse in the second half of 2019.
- Full year 2019 guidance maintained, with seasonality characterized by weaker first and third quarters and stronger second and fourth quarters, with a particularly weak Q1 and an expected particularly strong Q4.
Nokia CEO Rajiv Suri expressed his pleasure with Nokia’s Q2 performance.
CEO’s statement:
Nokia delivered a strong second quarter, driven by 5G demand, a competitive end-to-end portfolio and strengthened operational execution. Given these compelling results, we are confirming our full-year 2019 guidance.
In the quarter, we saw good year-on-year growth, meaningful improvements in profitability, robust progress in our strategic expansion areas of Software and Enterprise and excellent momentum in our IP Routing business. We also continued to enhance our position in 5G, and now have 45 commercial 5G deals and 9 live networks.
Risks remain in the year, including execution demands in the second half, trade-related uncertainty and challenges in the China market. Given these risks, we will continue to focus on tight operational discipline, delivering on our EUR 700 million cost-savings program, improving working capital management and advancing the implementation of our strategy.
Overall, I am pleased with Nokia’s performance in the second quarter and our continued progress in executing our strategy.
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