Nokia Posts Surprise Second 614lz Quarter Profit Jump as Pekka Lundmark Is Poised to Take Over as CEO

Nokia will see Pekka Lundmark take over as CEO after Rajeev Suri exits this weekend. 14q6u

By Reuters | Updated: 31 July 2020 17:38 IST

Nokia Posts Surprise Second-Quarter Profit Jump as Pekka Lundmark Is Poised to Take Over as CEO

The company estimated that COVID-19 hurt net sales by about EUR 500 million 6v5159

Highlights

Nokia's quarterly revenue fell 11 percent to EUR 5.09 billion
Nokia missed the EUR 5.28 billion consensus figure
Nokia had already warned of a weak second quarter due to the virus

ment

Finnish telecom network equipment maker Nokia reported an unexpected rise in its second-quarter underlying profit on Friday despite the COVID-19 crisis, while its new Chief Executive Officer Pekka Lundmark takes over this weekend.

Lagging behind its rivals China's Refinitiv poll.

Nokia, which had warned of a weak second quarter due to the virus, upgraded its forecast for 2020 underlying earnings per share to between EUR 0.2 and EUR 0.3 from EUR 0.18 to EUR 0.28.

Big Tech Firms See Robust Results in Pandemic-Hit Quarter

Its more profitable Nordic peer Ericsson reported a rise in 5G network sales and software revenue two weeks ago, and also maintained its financial targets for 2020 and 2022.

However, Nokia's quarterly revenue fell 11 percent to EUR 5.09 billion (roughly Rs. 45,071 crores), missing the EUR 5.28 billion (roughly Rs. 46,755 crores) consensus figure, according to Refinitiv data.

Nokia-level revenue was down in the quarter, with the majority of that the result of Rajeev Suri said in a statement.

Huawei, Apple Gain Bigger Share of Shrinking China Smartphone Market

The company estimated that COVID-19 hurt net sales by about EUR 500 million (roughly Rs. 4,428 crores) in the first half of the year.

"We expect that the majority of sales missed in the quarter due to COVID-19 will shift to future periods," Suri said.

Suri, who steps down after more than a decade in charge of Nokia and Nokia Siemens Networks, leaves the company to his successor Pekka Lundmark with weak profitability in a highly competitive market situation.

The leadership change at Nokia comes as turbulence prevails in European telecoms markets, with increasing pressure from certain governments for operators to exclude or limit the usage of 5G equipment from China's Huawei Technologies.

Lundmark, who takes over on Saturday, will team up with new chairwoman Sari Baldauf.

Is Nord the iPhone SE of the OnePlus world? We discussed this on Orbital, our weekly technology podcast, which you can subscribe to via Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, or RSS, the episode, or just hit the play button below.

links may be automatically generated - see our ethics statement for details.

Comments

For the latest reviews, follow Gadgets 360 on X, Facebook, WhatsApp, Threads and Google News. For the latest videos on gadgets and tech, subscribe to our YouTube channel. If you want to know everything about top influencers, follow our in-house Who'sThat360 on Instagram and YouTube.