Nokia reported a fall in fourth-quarter results, hurt by the weak equipment market and lower licensing revenue. Sales fell 13 percent year-on-year to EUR 6.715 billion on a pro forma basis for the merger with Alcatel-Lucent. Networks revenue was down 14 percent to EUR 6.069 billion, and the licensing business, Nokia Technologies dropped 25 percent to EUR 309 million.
Adjusted operating profit fell 27 percent from a year ago to EUR 940 million, and the margin dropped to 14.0 percent from 16.6. Over the full year, the operating margin at the Networks business reached 8.9 percent, at the high end of the company's forecast of 7-9 percent. Nokia's net profit was still up 32 percent to EUR 658 million in Q4, and the company increased its dividend to EUR 0.17 per share from EUR 0.16 a year ago.
CEO Rajeev Suri said the company had completed the integration of Alcatel-Lucent and was pleased with the reception from customers to the new group and its strategy. The group remains focused on cost savings to offset the weaker market conditions and targets a reduction of EUR 1.2 billion by 2018. For 2017, Nokia forecast a low single-digit decline in its main networks market, while the networks margin should continue to reach around 8-10 percent.
