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Technology Stocks : Nokia (NOK) -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Ardner Cheshire, Jr. who wrote (1407)	1/29/1999 12:22:00 PM
From: H.A.M.	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 34857

Nokia's CEO Jorma Ollila: Comment on Fourth-Quarter Earnings Helsinki, Jan. 29 (Bloomberg) -- The following are comments from a press release by Jorma Ollila, chief executive of Nokia Oyj, a Finnish telecommunications equipment company, on fourth- quarter results. Nokia said fourth-quarter net income soared a greater-than- expected 72 percent to 3.474 billion markkaa (584 million euros or $666 million). Analysts were looking for a profit of 3.2 billion. ''Nokia closed the year 1998 with another excellent quarter. Continued strong growth and excellent profits in the last quarter led to a record year during which we exceeded our overall growth and profitability targets. We strengthened our market position in many areas and have every reason to be pleased with the results and performance in our major businesses. ''Strong profitability continued in our infrastructure business. The impact of price erosion in our mobile phones was well below historical levels and resulted in exceptional profitability in our handset business. In addition, continued successful working capital management contributed to our solid financial position and performance in 1998, resulting in net cash flow from operations of FIM 10.0 billion. ''During the year we grew our personnel by 9,819 to 44,543 persons worldwide. I am proud of the dedication with which all Nokia employees met the challenges of continued strong growth and change. I am pleased to announce that for 1998, the company-wide Nokia Connecting People Bonus will be paid at the maximum 5% level of the annual base salary. ''In 1998, 58% of our sales originated from Europe, 21% from the Americas and 21% from Asia Pacific. Our five biggest markets were the U.S., China, the UK, Germany and France. ''We estimate that the number of mobile phone subscribers exceeded 306 million at the end of 1998, with the position of GSM being undisputed as the most widely used cellular standard. ''Some 45 percent of all cellular subscribers and 60 percent of all digital cellular subscribers use GSM. Strong subscriber growth and the increase in usage of wireless services have also created a favorable environment for infrastructure growth. ''We are fast approaching the wireless information society in which a constantly increasing part of all personal communication - be it voice, data, images or video - will be wireless. New subscribers are purchasing mobile phones as a primary communication device. Technological and lifestyle- related features continue to develop, and existing users are upgrading to newer models more frequently than ever before. ''Operators need to invest in coverage and capacity, offer new services and combine customer needs in both wireless and fixed environments. ''Nokia continued to be the preferred choice of many new operators, as well as of existing customers expanding their networks, leading to healthy infrastructure order-inflow growth of 30 percent. New solutions introduced during the year demonstrate the leading-edge position of our infrastructure systems. Based on our leadership in wireless communications, we are well positioned to benefit from the opportunities emerging in the converging digital industries. ''The fast development of the industry is reflected in our mobile phone sales volumes. Towards the end of the year there were several weeks during which we sold more than one million phones per week. We estimate that the number of mobile phones sold during 1998 was approximately 163 million. Nokia's total phone sales volume for the year was 40.8 million. In early December we manufactured our 100 millionth phone. ''The rapid change of the mobile phone to a global consumer product from a niche device has required a new approach in producing and marketing mobile phones. A prerequisite for success is to understand segmentation. In a segmented consumer market with high volumes, critical success factors include comprehensive product portfolio, a strong and appealing brand as well as efficient global logistics. ''We will continue to focus in these areas with the aim of sustained brand leadership. ''We started 1999 with a strong product portfolio and we will continue to introduce competitive new products during the year. Our recently announced increases in production capacity will enable us to meet the anticipated global growth in demand for mobile phones. ''The evolution towards third generation mobile communications took major steps forward during the past year. In line with our strategy to be the industry leader, we were the first to introduce the High Speed Circuit Switched Data capability for GSM. ''Over the next two years we will introduce new services and features, paving the way towards full wideband wireless solutions expected to be implemented first in the year 2001. We remain committed to this demanding schedule and aim to be among the first suppliers of third generation equipment. ''To meet our near-term challenges and to build the foundation for continued growth in our businesses, we will continue our investments in research and development. We have established the Nokia Ventures Organization to seek and develop areas with growth potential over the next five years. We will also continue our strategy of partnerships and focused acquisitions to complement our existing competencies. 10:59:14 01/29/1999