Nokia reports ‘weak’ Q1 2019 earnings attributed to 5G

Nokia CEO Rajeev Suri jumped right in with the bad news on the company’s first quarter 2019 earnings call today. “Q1 was a weak quarter for Nokia as we expected,” he said. “We pointed to a soft first half and a particularly weak first quarter, followed by a robust second half. We continue to stand by that view.” The company reported an uptick in sales in Q1 2019 of €5.1 billion, compared to €4.9 billion in Q1 2018. But, it reported an operating loss of €524 million compared to a loss of €336 million in the same quarter a year ago. Suri said that due to the “evolving readiness of the 5G ecosystem,” in Q1 2019 Nokia was unable to recognize approximately €200 million of net sales related to 5G deliveries mainly in North America, which it expects to recognize in full before the end of 2019. The company expects the weakness to “mitigate” in the second half of 2019, and is maintaining its guidance for the full year.