Finnish networking corporation, Nokia Corp., has outlined the company's financial status for the fourth quarter. The company accrued a loss of 33 million euros, in stark contrast to the dividend of 3.15 billion euros earned the previous year. This translates to a loss per share of 0.01 euro, compared to a profit of 0.56 euro a year earlier.
Nokia suggests that the shift in the operating model resulted in a non-cash reassessment of deferred tax assets, significantly contributing to this decline.
Despite the overall decline, the company reported a comparable profit of 568 million euros for the same period, nearly half of 929 million euros earned the previous year. Consequently, the comparable earnings per share fell to 0.10 euro from 0.16 euro.
Remarkably, net sales also experienced a slump. A drop of 23 percent saw sales fall from 7.45 billion euros the previous year to 5.71 billion euros. Considering constant currency, this was a fall of 21 percent.
Nokia's Board proposed a dividend authorization valued at 0.13 euro per share and also launched a two-year buyback program worth 600 million euros.
In future projections, the company anticipates the challenging economic climate of 2023 to prevail over the first half of 2024, with the first quarter being particularly arduous.
For 2024, Nokia projected an overall comparable operating profit between 2.3 billion euros and 2.9 billion euros and anticipates a free cash flow conversion from comparable operating profit between 30 percent and 60 percent. This is compared to a comparable operating profit of 2.38 billion euros in 2023.
Moreover, the company predicts an accelerated growth in net sales for fiscal 2026, faster than the general market trend. It is also aiming for a comparable operating margin to reach a minimum of 13 percent, a target that was recently marked down.
Despite these ups and downs, Nokia remains optimistic of achieving its long-term goal of at least 14 percent.
