No impact to financial outlook, said Nokia
Nokia is the latest telco company to announce that it’s leaving Russia over its invasion of Ukraine. Nokia announced Tuesday it is exiting the Russian market, one day after Ericsson announced the same. Last month Nokia announced that it had suspended deliveries to Russia, citing the Ukraine situation as “complex” and rapidly evolving.
“It has been clear for Nokia since the early days of the invasion of Ukraine that continuing our presence in Russia would not be possible. 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. During this process our priority continues to be the safety and wellbeing of our employees,” said the company in a statement.
Nokia acknowledged its role in providing essential communications infrastructure to Russian citizens, and its humanitarian responsibility.
“Therefore, as we exit we will aim to provide the necessary support to maintain the networks and are applying for the relevant licenses to enable this support in compliance with current sanctions,” Nokia said.
Nokia noted that Russia accounts for less than 2% of its net sales in 2021. Nokia said that it has already provisioned funds to cover its Russian retreat, and that the change will not impact its published 2022 outlook or sequential quarterly results.
“We expect this decision to lead to a provision in Q1 of approximately €100m [US$108.9 million] which will impact our reported but not comparable financials,” said Nokia.
On Monday Ericsson said it was suspending Russian business ‘indefinitely,’ and said it would engage with customers and partners to make arrangements, but that its priority was the safety and well-being of employees in Russia, who have been placed on paid leave.
