Nokia is back in the black
Network equipment giant Nokia is to return €4.4bn to shareholders in dividends and buybacks. The company has also pushed forward its cost synergy target from the €15.6bn takeover of Alcatel-Lucent of €900m by one year to 2018.
Nokia reported Q3 sales of €3bn, down 2pc from last year.
In the third quarter, it widened margins to 13.6pc.
During the quarter, Nokia agreed to sell its HERE mapping division to Audi, BMW and Mercedes for $3.07bn.
Sales at Nokia networks were down 2pc while sales at its intellectual properties group Nokia Technologies were up 7pc year-on-year.
Nokia OZO virtual reality camera coming before the end of this year
“Nokia’s third quarter can be summarised in two words: progress and performance. Progress in moving the Alcatel-Lucent transaction closer to completion and solid performance across all of our businesses,” said Nokia CEO and president Rajeev Suri.
“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 a 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,” Suri said.
Nokia image via Shutterstock
