12 Apr 2022 09:57

Nokia leaving Russian market

MOSCOW. April 12 (Interfax) - Nokia has announced that it will exit the Russian market due to Russia's special military operation in Ukraine.

"Over the last weeks we have suspended deliveries, stopped new business and are moving our limited R&D activities out of Russia. We can now announce we will exit the Russian market," the Finnish telecom equipment maker said in a press release.

However, as it exits Russia, the company will aim to provide the necessary support to maintain telecom networks in the country and is applying for the relevant licenses to enable this support in compliance with current sanctions, Nokia said. "For humanitarian reasons, Western governments have expressed concerns about the risk of critical telecommunication network infrastructure in Russia failing. They have also emphasized the importance of ensuring the continued flow of information and access to the Internet," it said.

"Russia accounted for less than 2% of our net sales in 2021," Nokia said. "We do not expect this decision to impact our ability to achieve our 2022 outlook" targeting 22.6-23.8 billion euros in revenue and EBITDA margin of 11%-13.5%, it said.

"We expect this decision to lead to a provision in Q1 of approximately" 100 million euros, which will impact our reported, but not our comparable financials, Nokia said.