I'm not sure if anyone outside the company knows what is the Russia's percentage of Nokia's total sales... because it is so insignificant it is never even mentioned in Nokia's lists of export markets. It lies probably somewhere between South Africa and New Zealand, certainly not even 1% of Nokia's exports. I would not characterize the relationship between Finnish companies and Russia "cozy". Finnish companies sometimes have an inside track there, but it is a dangerous, unstable, unpredictable market. That is why Nokia has not made big sales initiatives there yet. Let's put it this way: three weeks of Nokia sales in China are bigger than one year's sales in Russia.
You are in good company with your worries: this issue evidently looms big in the minds of many international investors and has depressed Nokia's price. Meanwhile, people seem to have forgotten entirely the second quarter results. Hello? Anyone remember these numbers: 50%, 0%, -1%. They are the mobile phone sales growth figures for Nokia, Ericsson and Motorola. This is what the worst case scenario for Nokia investors in the third quarter is going to look like: 60%, 5%, 5%. My prediction is 65%, -5%, 0%. It might be a good idea to spend one minute meditating on these numbers for every minute spent on worrying on Russia or the "Second Intern Speaks Out" scenario.
Tero |
