Pekka Lundmark, President and CEO of Nokia said he was pleased with his company’s start to 2022 during his presentation of its first quarter earnings yesterday. Demand in end markets remained high, Lundmark said, and although supply chain constraints continue to impact growth, Nokia still managed to deliver a one percent constant currency net sales growth for the quarter.
“Our comparable operating margin was stable year-on-year at 10.9 percent as strong underlying improvements in profitability were offset by rising R&D investment, lower other operating income compared to the year before and some timing effects in Nokia Technologies,” Lundmark said.
The company said its Network Infrastructure division delivered strong growth with continued robust momentum in both Fixed and Submarine Networks although in Mobile Networks, supply constraints hindered its revenue growth.
“Nevertheless,” Lundmark said, “we expect to return to growth this year due to our improved competitiveness. Our 5G Core business continued to drive good growth in Cloud and Network Services. In Nokia Technologies we are in the process of renewing licenses which has led to some timing effects in net sales in the quarter.” Lundmark said he is confident in the quality of Nokia’s patent portfolio and expects it to return to previously communicated $1.5 billion annualized net sales run rate.
“During the first quarter of the year, we were shocked to see the Russian invasion of Ukraine,” Lundmark said. “Nokia believes in human rights, international cooperation and the rule of law. Throughout the war our priority has been the safety and wellbeing of our people. We support our employees in Ukraine in multiple ways and are proud of their continued efforts to maintain our customers’ networks in the country. It has been clear for us since the early days of the invasion that continuing our presence in Russia would not be possible.”
Inside Towers reported the company announced in early April that it will exit the Russian market “in a responsible way and aim to provide the necessary support to maintain our customers’ networks as we exit,” said Lundmark.
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