After announcing Rajeev Suri as new CEO and new future strategy, Nokia has now published its Financial results for Q1 2014 and below are the highlights,
- In Q1 2014, underlying operating profitability for Nokia’s continuing operations increased to EUR 304 million, or 11.4% of net sales, compared to EUR 254 million, or 8.1% of net sales, in Q1 2013.
- Networks achieved solid underlying operating profitability, with Q1 2014 non-IFRS operating profit of EUR 216 million, or 9.3% of net sales, compared to EUR 196 million, or 7.0%, in Q1 2013. This was primarily due to a higher gross margin which benefited from a higher proportion of software sales, significant efficiency improvements in Global Services and a higher proportion of Mobile Broadband sales.
- HERE’s external net sales were EUR 185 million, an increase of 13% year-on-year, driven by strong sales to vehicle customers.
- Technologies entered in to an agreement with HTC, validating Nokia’s implementation patents and enabling Technologies to focus on further licensing opportunities.
- Nokia Group ended Q1 2014 with a strong balance sheet and solid cash position with gross cash of EUR 6.9 billion and net cash of EUR 2.1 billion compared to EUR 9.0 billion and EUR 2.3 billion, respectively, at the end of Q4 2013. The sequential decline in Nokia’s gross cash was primarily due to repayment of certain debt facilities totaling approximately EUR 1.8 billion during the first quarter 2014.
- If the transaction to sell to Microsoft substantially all of our Devices & Services business would have closed before the end of the first quarter 2014, Nokia would have ended the quarter with gross cash of approximately EUR 10.5 billion and net cash of approximately EUR 7.1 billion.
Not so good news for discontinued operations aka Devices & Services arm, which is now a part of Microsoft. Both Mobile phone and smartphones saw lower sales, but Q1 is a seasonally weak quarter, so that may have contributed to this decline.
The year-on-year and sequential declines in discontinued operations net sales in the first quarter 2014 were primarily due to lower Mobile Phones net sales and, to a lesser extent, lower Smart Devices net sales.
On both a year-on-year and sequential basis, our Mobile Phones net sales were affected by competitive industry dynamics, including intense smartphone competition at increasingly lower price points and intense competition at the low end of our product portfolio. Our Smart Devices net sales were affected by competitive industry dynamics including the strong momentum of competing smartphone platforms.
On both a year-on-year and sequential basis, discontinued operations unit volumes declined in the first quarter 2014. The year-on-year decline in discontinued operations unit volumes was due to lower Mobile Phones unit volumes, partially offset by higher Smart Devices unit volumes. Sequentially, the decline in discontinued operations unit volumes was primarily due to lower Mobile Phones unit volumes and, to a lesser extent, lower Smart Devices unit volumes.
Discontinued operations Average Selling Price (ASP) declined on both a year-on-year and sequential basis in the first quarter 2014. The year-on-year and sequential declines in discontinued operations ASP were due to lower ASPs for both Smart Devices and Mobile Phones.
Discontinued operations ended the first quarter 2014 within our normal 4 to 6 week channel inventory range.
