Finnish telecom giant Nokia announces strong progress on Thursday reported solid earnings in 2021. Giving a positive outlook for the coming years as sales rose despite supply concerns.

“I would like to call this a year of transformation,” CEO Pekka Lundmark told reporters after the group reported a net profit of 1.6 billion euros (about 1.875 billion Rs).

Results Follow A Series Of Surprising Quarterly:

The results follow a series of surprising quarterly results for the network equipment manufacturer. Which has slowed down in the race for the 5G network equipment market against Swedish Ericsson and Chinese Huawei.

• Since joining in 2019, Lundmark has monitored a comprehensive restructuring and cost-savings program with savings reinvested in the development of new, more competitive products.
• The measures are largely considered paid, with Nokia expecting a comparable operating margin of between 11% and 13.5% in 2022, up from 12.5% in 2021.
• Lundmark has been cautious about publishing long-term guidelines. But said on Thursday that the group hopes to increase its operating margin to over 14% over the next three to five years.
• The increased cash flow also meant that Nokia would reintroduce dividends, which it suspended in October 2019.

The Board of Directors proposes a dividend of 0.08 euros (approximately 7 rupees) per share for 2021. And we are also launching a share buyback program to raise up to 600 million euros (approx).
Lundmark said semiconductor shortages and global supply chain shutdowns have “stabilized” but the situation “remains strained”.

Nokia Announces Strong Progress And Improvements In The Second Half Of 2022:

He said that expected improvements in the second half of 2022 “will not help this year in general. But that 2023 should be completely different”.

The company expects sales of between €22.6 billion and €23.8 billion in 2022. And said growth is expected to outpace the broader market over the next three to five years. Nokia also expects further improvements in its operating margin. It announced last month that it expects to meet its previous target of 12.4 to 12.6 percent for all of 2021. And on Thursday it quite rightly reported a figure of 12.5 percent. For 2022. Nokia has set a target of 11 to 13.5 percent and longer term equal to or more than 14 percent.

“The pace of delivery will depend on both the market environment and the decisions we need to make about R&D investments to ensure our long-term competitiveness and sustainable profitability,” said Lundmark.

Speaking of investments, Nokia also announced its latest venture capital fund on Thursday, into which it will invest $400 million. It will look for emerging companies working in 5G utility cases. And various related sectors including edge cloud, cybersecurity, digital industry and digital transformation. It is manage by NGP Capital, an independent VC firm, but with Nokia as the sole investor.

Sustainable technology leadership requires that we anticipate. Design and invest in the next technology windows, said Nishant Batra, Nokia’s chief strategy and technology officer. “Our relationship with NGP provides a good opportunity to explore external capabilities that underpin the delivery of Nokia’s vision for the 5G era and beyond.”