Nokia Swings To Net Loss, Says 'Not Immune' To Tariffs

Helsinki: Finnish telecoms equipment maker Nokia on Thursday reported a net loss of 60 million euros ($68 million) for the first quarter, citing the tariff wars and the "rapidly evolving global trade landscape".

The company said tariffs imposed by the United States could result in "some short-term disruption" in its operations, but held its outlook of posting an annual operating profit.

"We are not immune to the rapidly evolving global trade landscape," chief executive Justin Hotard said in a statement.

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"However based on early customer feedback, I believe our markets should prove to be relatively resilient," he added.

Hotard said the company expects the current tariffs would impact second quarter comparable operating profit by 20 to 30 million euros.

The company posted an operating profit of 432 million euros in the second quarter last year.

US President Donald Trump implemented a tariff of 10 percent on global imports this month, but he paused plans for higher duties on dozens of countries, including a 20 percent duty for goods from EU nations.

Nokia maintained its earnings guidance of an operating profit of between 1.9 and 2.4 billion euros in 2025. It posted an operating profit of 2.0 billion in 2024.

First quarter sales dipped one percent from last year to 4.4 billion euros.

The first quarter net loss compared to a net profit of 438 million euros last.

Atte Riikola, an analyst with Finnish market research firm Inderes, told AFP that Nokia's sales aligned with expectations while earnings fell below estimates owing to a contract settlement charge with a net impact of 120 million euros.

"If we consider the one time negative impact from some customer contract that was settled, then the earnings performance was in line with the expectations," Riikola said.

The company said it expects its Network Infrastructure and Cloud and Network Services divisions to see sales growth this year, while Mobile Networks to hold steady.

Alongside its first quarter report, it announced a contract extension with US operator T-Mobile, saying it continued "to see positive signs of stabilisation" in its Mobile Networks business.

Riikola said strategic announcements from Hotard -- who took over after Pekka Lundmark as Nokia's CEO on April 1 -- about the future of Nokia were to be expected in the second quarter.

"We know that Nokia is going more towards the network infrastructure business and the key growth area there is the data centres," Riikola said.

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