Nokia Corporation Financial Report for Q4 and Full Year 2020 Nokia Corporation
Financial Statement Release
4 February 2021 at 08:00 (CET 1)
Nokia Corporation Financial Report for Q4 and Full Year 2020
Solid margin performance driven by customer demand in North America
5% year-on-year decrease in reported net sales in Q4, primarily due to Mobile Access, as declines in network deployment and planning services were partially offset by growth in radio access products
1% growth in constant currency net sales in Q4
Continued improvements in our Mobile Access portfolio; strengthening roadmaps, reducing product costs and improving product performance; commitment to invest in R&D to drive product leadership
Increase in Mobile Access gross margin in Q4, primarily driven by improved 5G gross margin, partially offset by a project-related loss provision
Positive operating profit, on a reported basis, in Q4 and full year 2020
Non-IFRS operating profit in Q4 benefited by approximately EUR 250 million, due to the timing of revenue recognition and a net positive fluctuation in Nokia's venture fund investments
Strong free cash flow in Q4 and full year 2020 benefited from an early customer payment of approximately EUR 0.5 billion, which was expected in Q1 2021
Derecognized EUR 2.9 billion of Finnish deferred tax assets, which are not lost
Reiterated outlook for 2021 comparable operating margin of 7-10% and provided new outlook for net sales and free cash flow
Board does not propose a dividend or dividend authorization for the financial year 2020
This is a summary of the Nokia Corporation financial report for Q4 and full year 2020 published today. The complete financial report for Q4 and full year 2020 with tables is available at www.nokia.com/financials. Investors should not rely on summaries of our financial reports only, but should review the complete financial reports with tables.
PEKKA LUNDMARK, PRESIDENT AND CEO, ON Q4 AND FULL YEAR 2020 RESULTS
Nokia delivered a solid Q4 to end 2020 at the high end of our Outlook range. We saw healthy gross margin and operating margin performance for both Q4 and full year 2020, supported by a regional mix shift towards the higher margin North America region and by our ongoing R&D efforts to enhance product quality and cost competitiveness.
From a business group perspective, in Q4 and full year 2020, our gross margin improvement was primarily driven by Networks, as was our full year operating margin performance. In Q4, our operating profit performance benefited by approximately EUR 250 million from two unexpected, yet significant drivers: a timing benefit of approximately EUR 150 million as we recognized net sales at the very end of the quarter, which we had expected in 2021; and we had a net positive fluctuation in Nokia's venture fund investments of approximately EUR 100 million.
The healthy close to the year does not change our earlier communicated view for Nokia-level operating margin expected in 2021.
Net sales for Q4 were down 5% on a reported basis and up 1% in constant currency and for full year 2020 they were down 6% on a reported basis and down 4% in constant currency.
Nokia delivered strong cash performance in Q4 and full year 2020, benefitting from a large customer payment that had been expected in Q1 2021, marking the third consecutive quarter of positive free cash flow. Additionally, our liquidity position continues to be solid.
Financial improvement in Mobile Access was clear in both Q4 and full year 2020 results, reflecting our ongoing efforts to strengthen the competitiveness and cost position of our mobile radio products. Overall, we saw growth in radio access products in Q4 and full year 2020, with growth in 5G partially offset by decreases in legacy radio access products.
5G gross margin increased due to product cost reduction, partly helped by higher ReefShark shipment volumes. Our aim was to be above 35% for our KPI on shipments of our 5G Powered by ReefShark portfolio; we ended the year at 43% and we remain on track to realize 70% by the end of 2021. This underlines the ongoing progress with our Mobile Networks turnaround and, as I said in Q3, we will invest whatever it takes to win in 5G. Completing the turnaround in Mobile Networks remains our top priority for 2021, and these visible signs of progress give me confidence that we are on the right track but there is still work to be done.
Our Enterprise business delivered another good set of results giving a solid foundation to build on. Q4 Enterprise net sales were up 1% in reported and 5% in constant currency. For full year 2020, they were up 11% in reported and 14% in constant currency, reflecting our leadership position in many areas, including in private wireless. We announced key partnerships with AT&T and Verizon for private wireless and won 79 new customers in Q4. We now have 260 private wireless customers. Public sector demand remains robust and we announced a US federal government cyber deal after the quarter end in mid-January.
At the end of 2020, we announced a new operating model to better align us with the needs of our customers and to better maintain and achieve technology leadership in the areas where we choose to compete.
Pleasingly we already have strong technology leadership positions in many key areas of our new business groups. In Network Infrastructure we have industry-leading FP4-based products and in Cloud and Network Services we are jointly developing transformational cloud-native 5G core solutions for CSPs and Enterprise customers. In our Mobile Networks business, together with Elisa and Qualcomm, we hold the worldwide 5G speed record.
These are encouraging results, however, as I said in Q3, we expect 2021 to be challenging, a year of transition, with meaningful headwinds due to market share loss and price erosion in North Ameri
