Nokia has posted its Q3 2015 Financial results and the two continuing businesses Networks and Technologies have earned profits for the company along with the discontinued HERE business. The net profit for Networks and Technologies is 188 million EUR, while the operating profit is 475 million EUR with a strong operating margin of 15.6%.
Here are the earnings highlights,
Overall:
- Net sales in Q3 2015 of EUR 3.0 billion (EUR 3.1 billion in Q3 2014), down 2% year-on-year (down 10% year-on-year on a constant currency basis)
- Non-IFRS diluted EPS in Q3 2015 of EUR 0.08 (EUR 0.09 in Q3 2014), a decrease of 11% year-on-year; reported diluted EPS in Q3 2015 of EUR 0.05 (EUR 0.57 in Q3 2014). Reported diluted EPS in Q3 2014 benefitted from the recognition of a deferred tax asset due to Nokia’s improved operating performance
Nokia Networks:
- 2% year-on-year net sales decrease (11% year-on-year decrease on a constant currency basis), as strong net sales growth in Greater China partially offset decreases in North America and Europe. On a sequential basis, strong net sales growth in Greater China also helped to offset the impact of industry seasonality
- Strong non-IFRS gross margin of 39.5% due to both Global Services and Mobile Broadband, with particular strength in the systems integration business line within Global Services
- Non-IFRS operating margin of 13.6% reflected strong operational performance and continued focus on execution excellence. Non-IFRS operating profit decreased 2% year-on-year
Nokia Technologies:
- 7% year-on-year net sales growth, primarily due to higher intellectual property licensing income
- 4% year-on-year decrease in non-IFRS operating profit, primarily due to higher investments in business activities which target long-term growth opportunities
Nokia CEO’s Statement:
CEO Rajeev Suri seems pleased with the Q3 performance. Read his full statement below.
Nokia’s third-quarter can be summarized in two words: progress and performance. Progress in moving the Alcatel-Lucent transaction closer to completion and solid performance across all of our businesses.
The performance at Nokia Networks was the highlight of the quarter, and allowed us to raise our full-year outlook for that business. Even if I am not pleased with the overall sales development, our strong profitability is testament to the strength of our operating model. We said earlier in the year that we would redouble our efforts to ensure our cost structure was aligned to market conditions, and the success of those efforts is very clear in our results.
Nokia Technologies also had a solid quarter, with year-on-year growth in licensing revenues. Our commitment to bringing innovative new products to market was apparent with the announcement of the OZO virtual-reality camera. OZO has been extremely well-received and will be launched officially before the end of the year.
During the quarter we made significant progress towards the closing of our transaction with Alcatel-Lucent. This progress was reflected in our announcement on October 21 that we had received all the necessary regulatory approvals to allow us to proceed with the public exchange offer. The Nokia Board of Directors has recently called for an Extraordinary General Meeting, to be held on December 2, to request shareholder approval for the transaction. We currently expect the settlement date of the initial exchange offer to be in the first quarter of 2016.
In advance of that offer, we announced a planned EUR 7 billion capital structure optimization program. That program, in my view, provides an excellent balance of significant capital return to shareholders while still ensuring we have strategic flexibility for the future.
Progress was also clear in our integration planning work. As announced separately, we now have the confidence to target the achievement of our synergy savings goals one year earlier than originally planned. I continue to believe that the acquisition of Alcatel-Lucent provides a very strong long-term value creation opportunity.
Rajeev Suri
President and CEO
