Operator
Operator
Good morning. My name is Dennis and I will be your conference operator today. At this time, I would like to welcome everyone to the Nokia Third Quarter 2011 Earnings Conference Call. All lines have been placed on mute to prevent any background noise. After the speakers’ remarks, there will be a question-and-answer session. (Operator Instructions) I would now like to turn the call over to Mr. Matt Shimao, Head of Investor Relations. Sir, you may begin. Matt Shimao – Head, Investor Relations: Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to Nokia’s third quarter 2011 conference call. I am Matt Shimao, Head of Nokia Investor Relations; Stephen Elop, President and CEO of Nokia; and Timo Ihamuotila, CFO of Nokia are here in Espoo with me today. During this call, we will be making forward-looking statements regarding the future business and financial performance of Nokia and its industry. These statements are predictions that involve risks and uncertainties. Actual results may therefore differ materially from the results we currently expect. Factors that could cause such differences can be both external; such as general, economic and industry conditions, as well as internal operating factors. We have identified these in more detail on pages 12 through 39 of our 2010 20-F and in our quarterly results press release issued today. Please note that our quarterly results press release, the complete interim report with tables, and the presentation on our website include non-IFRS results information in addition to the reported results information. Our complete interim report with tables available on our website includes a detailed explanation of the content of the non-IFRS information and the reconciliation between the non-IFRS and the reported information. With that, Stephen, over to you? Stephen Elop – President and Chief Executive Officer: Welcome, ladies and gentleman, and thank you for joining us on today’s earnings call. Overall, I am pleased with Nokia’s results this quarter. That being said, it is important to emphasize that we are on a journey during which we are systematically transforming our company for long-term success and improved financial performance. With each step of that journey, you will see us methodically implement our strategy pursuing steady improvement through a period that has known transition risks while also dealing with the various unexpected ups and downs that typify the dynamic nature of our industry. Let me remind you about what the nature of this journey is. On February 11, we announced a new strategy for Nokia with the fundamental intent of creating great mobile products. This strategy comprises, first, the transition of our primary smartphone platform to Windows Phone; second, increased investment in our lower price mobile phone products as we seek to connect the next billion people to the Internet; and third, investments and areas of potential future disruption. Additionally across these three pillars, we will use our iconic design capabilities, location and commerce assets, and various unpolished gems as sources of competitive differentiation. And finally, we will change the way we work to better adapt to the disruptive forces around us. As a result of this strategy, we intend to grow longer term Devices & Services net sales faster than the market while delivering our Devices & Services non-IFRS operating margin of 10% or more. During this very busy quarter, I have focused my attention on operative improvements meeting with teams around the company and around the world to gauge the progress we are making to identify areas, where we need additional concentration and to assess our early results. Most notably this quarter, I visited China to review the business status of the region. To meet with the operators and to engage with the number of our go-to-market partners, it is evident that the team in China has made significant progress in correcting the situation that led to the problems in Q2. Channel inventories are at normal levels. Channel structure has been streamlined and we believe our channel partners are seeing increased profits from the resulting normalized pricing and from the sales support provided by the Nokia team. In parallel, the operators are looking forward to bringing their consumers our new Smart Devices and Mobile Phones. Yes, there is still a lot of work to do in China, but there are very clear signs of progress. I also have the opportunity to visit India, where we continue to see a positive trend after the launch of our dual SIM devices earlier this year. In the dual SIM price bands in which we launched these products, we have gone from essentially a standing start to 18 million devices in Q3. Additionally, our internal estimates indicate continued momentum. In addition to capturing share with our dual SIM devices, we also are seeing a halo effect, whereby the success of our dual SIM devices is driving increased traffic around and correspondingly higher sales for our other devices in India. For example, shipments of the Nokia 1616, a €15 device that we first shipped in Q2 of last year grew 24% sequentially and had its highest volume performance since Q4 of last year. This may suggest that the power of the Nokia brand in our traditional strongholds combined with great new products and execution by our team can have an immediate impact on our business results. The results in India may also begin to tell another story somewhat contrary to conventional wisdom. Again through the combination of a strong brand, great products with Nokia innovation and execution, it is clear that we are able to take share away from smaller Chinese and local manufacturers. It is my belief that we need to attack these low end markets with figure and innovation and that is what we are doing in India and will continue to do in relevant markets around the world. I also visited a number of key Nokia facilities around the world, including Ulm, Germany, which is one of our principal sites for mobile phones research and development. As just one example of the progress we are making, the team in Ulm has clearly moved from absorbing and understanding our new strategy to aggressively pursuing its implementation. In doing so, there is a lot of excitement around the product work this team is delivering and it is encouraging to see R&D teams moving past their period of transition into heads down execution. We are pursing a strategy that concentrates our Mobile Phones R&D in three locations and our Smart Devices R&D in four locations. As a result, we are seeing better execution, because the co-location of people fosters easier conversations and faster problem resolution leading to shorter product cycles. During the Q1 earning call, I mentioned that Q2 would be a point of product family transitioned for mobile phones with the introduction of the dual SIM products and we are now beginning to see the results. Of course, we are at a similar moment in our Smart Devices. First, Q3 was a quarter of significant progress in and around Symbian. This included the launch of Symbian Belle, the latest in series of operating system enhancements, which includes significant user experience improvements and of C capabilities, a broader range of Microsoft Office productivity applications and modernized navigation features. We have announced a variety of new products that use Symbian Belle. This includes our loudest smartphone, which is oriented towards music and entertainment bus. It also includes our most colorful smartphone, which is available in a wide range of vibrant colors and our smallest smartphone with an incredibly powerful experience packed into a very compact form factor. And finally, our brightest smartphone with a large clear black display and stainless steel finish. The feedback from reviewers and analysts on the Symbian Belle experience has been excellent. They have remarked that Belle is a huge step forward and represents Nokia’s most competitive Symbian experience to-date. During the course of Q3, we also completed the development of the Nokia N9, a bold all-screen phone, that’s incredibly fast and simple to use. It brings with it a breathtaking new industrial design and some real innovation around its swipe user interface. Early demand for the N9 in the days since it launched in certain target markets has been strong. For example in Russia, which is one of our largest markets, we had the highest pre-order number ever in the country and the first shipments at our flagship store in Moscow sold out during the opening sales event. We look forward to extending elements of the N9’s industrial design, user experience, and developments environment to various future Nokia products. I must also say that I am incredibly proud of and grateful to the Nokia teams that brought the N9 to market under what are obviously very difficult circumstances given our transition. Perseverance has long been a trait of Nokia and combined with loyalty and a passion for a products and consumers is a remarkable force. Looking ahead for our smart devices, the largest reason for marking this moment is a point of transition is the impending introduction of the first Nokia experience on Windows Phone that we expect in Q4. While the launch itself will be an important milestone, it is just one more step in our journey of transformation. We will be launching in select countries later this quarter and then we plan to systematically increase the number of countries, launch partners, and products during the course of 2012. To say that Nokians around the world are excited to share our work in the weeks ahead is to say the least, an understatement. As part of our transformation, we also continue to make necessary structural changes to our business, which are focused on putting us on course for long-term success. Timo will provide more information related to the financial implications of these changes, but I did want to share my perspective. At the highest level, we plan to make these structural changes to support the execution of our company strategy to achieve the Devices & Services savings target we announced earlier this year and to bring efficiency and speed to the organization. Earlier this year, we focused our restructuring work on primarily the R&D teams to ensure that we correctly allocated resources against the new strategy at appropriate cost levels. The progress we are making with our products is early evidence that we have addressed some of the previous challenges. Although, we still have work ahead of us. Thus in Q3, we announced that we are now accelerating structural change in other parts of the organization in order to ensure we are responsive to the changing dynamics in our industry. This included three things. First, we plan to adjust our manufacturing capacity and renew our manufacturing strategy to reflect our global networks of customers, partners, and suppliers have evolved including the closure of our facility includes Romania. Second in our location and commerce business, we plan to capture potential synergies and increased effectiveness through automation arising from consolidating location assets including NAVTEQ and Nokia’s social location services operations that was in Devices & Services. And finally, we plan to align our markets team and other supporting functions. For sales, this includes a move to simplify our model to now be based around four regions, 20 areas, and additional local offices, and serve individual countries or territories. Since we outlined our new strategy, we have announced the plan reduction of approximately 7,500 employees and the transfer of approximately 2,300 employees to Accenture. Changes of this size are never easy because of the personal impact on our employees, their families, and their communities. As we have done in the past, Nokia will ensure that we meet our social responsibility obligations in supporting our affected employees. So, in summary in Q3, we started to see signs of early progress in many areas. We made some difficult decisions, but we also celebrated some early moments of success. As we head into the fourth quarter, we are looking for to generating more success as a result of delivering against our new strategy. But more importantly, we are focused on providing continued calculated progress so that we can move Nokia through the transformation process and deliver superior results to our shareholders while we deliver great mobile devices to people all around the world. Thank you and now over to Timo. Timo Ihamuotila – Chief Financial Officer: Okay. Thank you, Stephen. According to our preliminary estimate in terms of both unit volumes, the overall handset market in Q3 grew around 10% both year-over-year and sequentially. In Q3, our Devices & Services volumes declined 3% year-over-year, but grew 20% sequentially as we recovered after taking decisive actions in Q2 to correct our overall channel inventory situation. In Q3, we continue to improve our retails execution and we ended Q3 within our normal four to six week range. On a reported basis, Devices & Services net sales of €5.4 billion were down 1% sequentially and down 25% year-over-year. In Q3, Devices & Services net sales benefited from the recognition of approximately €70 million of non-recurring IPR royalty income, which was recognized in Devices & Services other net sales. In Q2, Devices & Services benefited by approximately €430 million of IPR royalty income from new contracts related to the second quarter 2011 and earlier periods. Thus, if you adjust for the royalty amounts I just mentioned, Devices & Services net sales actually grew 6% sequentially in the third quarter. Our Smart Devices net sales in Q3 continued to be impacted by highly competitive market dynamics. On sequential basis, Smart Devices net sales declined 7% as unit volumes were approximately flat, but ASPs declined. Smart Devices sales in Q3 were led by the Nokia 5230, the C5 family, N9 and C7 covering a broad price range from €75 to €230. Since the Q2 earnings call, we launched four new Symbian Belle devices, which have received very positive reviews. These Symbian Belle devices which are expected to ramp up in Q4 bring a meaningful improvement to the competitiveness of our overall Smart Devices portfolio. In Q3, our Mobile Phones net sales delivered a solid performance and we believe we took share from competitive offerings. On a sequential basis, net sales grew 14% a strong growth in unit volumes more than offset ASP declines. Mobile Phones sales in Q3 were led by the Nokia C3, C2, C1, 1616, and X1 covering a broad price range from €15 to €65. Our dual SIM portfolio expanded from one device that did 2.6 million units in Q2 to four devices that the total of 17.9 million units in Q3. It is important to note that the overall mobile phones portfolio delivered sequential growth in Q3 with non-dual SIM mobile phones volumes growing a solid 4%. For both Smart Devices and Mobile Phones in Q3, the impact of our pricing actions on ASPs was mainly driven by the larger pricing decisions that we made during Q2, which impacted Q2 ASPs partially and impacted Q3 ASPs for the full quarter. On an overall Devices & Services basis, the sequential decline in ASPs was primarily due to a product mix shift towards lower ISP devices as well as the lower IPR royalty income and price erosion I previously mentioned. Devices & Services non-IFRS gross margin in Q3 was 26.1%, down 500 basis points sequentially. The decrease was primarily driven by the lower IPR royalty income. The positive gross margin impact related to IPR royalty income previously mentioned was approximately 100 basis points in Q3 and 590 basis points in Q2. Thus adjusting for these IPR royalty items, Devices & Services non-IFRS gross margin was approximately flat sequentially. In Q3, we experienced sequential gross margin declines in both Smart Devices and Mobile Phones. The high level of competition in our industry puts pressure on gross margins making it important to capture the benefits of scale. In Q3, Devices & Services non-IFRS gross margin was negatively impacted by 20 basis points related to foreign currency hedging. At present time, we expect a 50 basis points positive impact to Q4 gross margins related to hedging activities assuming static foreign currency rates at the end of Q3 levels, but this could change due to intra-quarter fluctuations in trading rates. In Q3, Devices & Services non-IFRS OpEx was €1.2 billion, down approximately €140 million on sequential basis and down approximately 230 basis points as percentage of net sales. We will continue to manage our OpEx tightly with a focus on continuing to increase our R&D efficiency as well as the effectiveness of our marketing initiatives to support our Smart Devices and Mobile Phones net sales. Sequentially in Q4, we expect the seasonal increase in OpEx to be greater than normal mainly driven by launch of our new products with go-to-market activities and marketing campaigns. Devices & Services non-IFRS operating margin was 4.1% in Q3, down 260 basis points sequentially. The positive operating margin impact related to IPR royalty income previously mentioned was approximately 120 basis points in Q3 and 800 basis points in Q2. Thus on an adjusted basis, Devices & Services non-IFRS operating margin was 2.9% in Q3. And now a few comments and an update on our OpEx reduction plans. A quarter ago, we announced that we would accelerate our efforts and increase our Devices & Services non-IFRS operating expenses reduction target to more than €1 billion for the full year of 2013 compared to the full year 2010 Devices & Services non-IFRS operating expenses of €5.65 billion. The most significant restructuring actions relate to aligning our R&D operations to support our new strategy. In addition during Q3, we announced actions intended to drive capacity optimization and operational agility as Stephen explained. Also in Q3, we identified potential synergies that we intend to achieve by combining our location assets including NAVTEQ and the social location services operations from Devices & Services into a new location and commerce business. Location and commerce represents an attractive growth and differentiation opportunity and will benefit from reinvestment as new opportunities are identified. During the third quarter, Devices & Services recognized net charges of €89 million related to restructuring activities, which include restructuring charges, associated impairments, and an Accenture-related deal closing adjustment. As of the end of Q3, we have recognized cumulative charges of €661 million. While the total extent of the restructuring activities is still to be determined, we currently anticipate cumulative charges in Devices & Services of around €900 million before the end of 2012. We also believe total cash outflows related to our Devices & Services restructuring activities will be below the cumulative charges related to these restructuring activities. And then on to Nokia Siemens Networks and NAVTEQ. In Q3, NSN delivered another solid quarter. Reported net sales were €3.4 billion, a 6% sequential decrease reflecting typical seasonality as well as a full quarter’s contribution from the acquired Motorola Solutions’ networks assets. Excluding the acquired Motorola business, NSN’s net sales would have been down 12% sequentially, but up 3% year-over-year. Although NSN has diversified geographic and customer base over the last couple of years, NSN’s net sales were impacted in Q3 due to the current macro-uncertainty as some operator customers placed a greater focus on how they are spending. Global Services represented approximately 50% of NSN’s net sales during Q3. In mobile broadband, NSN continued to make good progress both in 3G and LTE. NSN now has 44 commercial LTE contracts. NSN’s non-IFRS gross margin in Q3 was 26.8%, up 20 basis points sequentially due to a greater focus on operational discipline, which offset an unfavorable sales mix towards Global Services. In Q3, NSN’s non-IFRS operating margin was 0.2%, down 90 basis points sequentially, reflecting the dollar net sales. NSN remains focused on driving further efficiencies while continuing to invest in its key strategic areas of mobile broadband and customer experience. During Q3, Nokia and Siemens each provided capital of €500 million to NSN to strengthen NSN’s financial position and set the stage for strategic flexibility, productivity, and innovation. The concurrent appointment of Jesper Ovesen as Executive Chairman is expected to help NSN strengthen its position as an industry leader and become a more independent entity. NSN’s contribution to Nokia cash flow from operations was slightly positive in Q3. At the end of the Q3, NSN’s contribution to Nokia’s gross cash was €1.7 billion and NSN’s contribution to Nokia’s net cash was negative €400 million. And then on NAVTEQ, reported net sales in Q3 were €241 million, down 2% sequentially and down 4% year-over-year. On a sequential basis, NAVTEQ’s decrease in reported net sales was primarily due to lower sales of map licenses to mobile device customers and typical seasonality in the vehicle segment partially offset by higher cell sales to PND customers. NAVTEQ’s non-IFRS gross margin was 86.3%, up 340 basis points sequentially primarily due to favorable revenue mix. NAVTEQ’s non-IFRS operating margin was 28.2%, up 670 basis points sequentially. And then turning back to Nokia as a whole, financial income and expenses was less negative on a sequential basis primarily due to specific exceptional hedging and investment gains recognized in Q3. On taxes, if Nokia’s estimated long-term tax rate of 26% had been applied non-IFRS, Nokia EPS would have been approximately €0.015 higher in Q3, 2011. And before I move on, I want to spend one minute on how I would encourage you to model taxes since this is driving some variation in cell site models. As expected, in Q3, our taxes was again negatively impacted by NSN as we are not currently recognizing tax benefits for NSN’s Finnish tax loses. We expect NSN taxes of approximately €50 million each quarter until NSN achieves a sufficient level of profitability at which point you can go back to using Nokia’s overall long-term tax rate of 26%. Until then, I would encourage you to model NSN taxes at €50 million per quarter and use 26% rate for the rest of Nokia ex-NSN. Then turning into the very important topic of cash, we ended the third quarter with a net cash balance of €5.1 billion. We have a clean balance sheet, conservative capital structure, and strong liquidity profile. Sequentially, net cash and other liquid assets increased by €1.2 billion primarily due to strong net cash from operating activities in Devices & Services, which were supported by positive net working capital improvement and net cash inflows from hedging activities. This was partially offset by capital expenditures. Net cash also benefited by a €500 million equity investment in Nokia Siemens Networks by Siemens. Our Devices & Services cash conversion cycle, which measures our working capital performance is back to a negative number of days. This was supported by a decrease in receivables due to a move in the geographic mix of our net sales back towards regions with shorter payment terms. And now turning to our guidance. In the press release, you will find the full details of our guidance, but I just wanted to highlight that we continue to operate with limited near-term visibility in our Devices & Services business. Although we have improved some of the fundamentals of our sales execution and our channel inventories are now at healthy levels, the business transformation we are in the midst of makes the top-line difficult to predict, particularly for our Smart Devices unit. However, we do expect Devices & Services net sales to be up sequentially in Q4 and we expect to end the year with a strong net cash position. Finally, some additional modeling considerations related to Q4. Beginning Q4, we planned to report results for our new location and commerce business as a new reportable segment taking the place of our NAVTEQ reportable segment. This involves regrouping some historical numbers, which we expect to provide you in advance of the Q4 earnings release. Also in Q4, we planned to stop chipping our first Nokia experience on Windows Phone. Thus from a balance sheet perspective, we expect to start receiving cash in Q4 related to quarterly platform support payments from Microsoft. From a P&L perspective in Q4, we will begin recording Windows Phone-related royalty expenses in our Smart Devices cost of goods sold. In Q4, we also will begin to recognizing a portion of the platform support payments as a benefit to our Smart Devices cost of goods sold. This has been factored into our Q4 guidance for Devices & Services. And with that, I will hand over to Matt for Q&A. Matt Shimao – Head, Investor Relations: Thank you, Timo. For the Q&A session, please limit yourself to one question only. Operator, please go ahead.