Nokia Oyj (NYSE:NOK) Q3 2023 Earnings Call Transcript

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Pekka Lundmark: Thank you, Daniel. Just want to start with – excuse me, seeing that what it comes to cost program – cost out program and the organizational involvement that we are doing, those are two separate issues and not connected itself. So the reason for the reorganization when it comes to sales resources, this is not cost cutting. It is more to secure that we have the best customer interconnection and can serve customers in the best possible way. What it comes to the cost-cutting program, just like we said, we estimate to have already €400 million in in-year savings next year and €300 in ’25. What it comes to the restructuring onetime charges and cash flow [ph] they will be close to the annual savings that we achieved. So those usually go hand in hand, and this is something we see is quite typical as well.

David Mulholland: Did you have a follow-up, Daniel?

Daniel Djurberg: Yes, this is on the – obviously, a sensitive matter, still important given your outlook or the guidance, the visibility into the IPR renewal outlook today versus a quarter ago given the outcome we’ve seen in various courts [ph] rulings recently?

Pekka Lundmark: Yes. Just like you said, we’ve seen a very good development on different court outcomes that we’ve been on a winning side, and that’s why we are very confident on the quality of our patents. And that’s why we believe also that we should have a positive outcome in these dedications and negotiations that we have. And as we said that in our guidance for this year as well, we assume that we will finalize these negotiations with these two outstanding customers in the tech side. So this is pretty much what we can say right now. As you understand, the timing is always difficult to estimate. And we always said also that we prioritize defending the value of our portfolio over specific time lines.

David Mulholland: Thank you, Daniel. We’ll take our next question from Felix Henriksson from Nordea. Felix, please go ahead.

Felix Henriksson: Hi. Thanks for taking my question. Regarding the cost savings and the headcount reductions that you’ve announced, I want to hear your thoughts on what are you sacrificing while taking these actions is there any implications for R&D, sales, et cetera? And sort of will you have to sort of accelerate recruitment again once the market sort of picks up and becomes more favorable. Thanks.

Pekka Lundmark: Yeah. Thank you, Felix. First of all, we are really making structural changes in the operating model and in the group structure in general with exactly the time [ph] that what we are now cutting would not automatically have to be recruited back when the market picks up. So, we expect some [ph] structural improvement of our cost base. What is important to keep in mind here is that when we are doing the reductions, we will always protect the R&D output. There is obviously, very interesting opportunities to improve R&D productivity through new technologies. We have already seen that in the right hands, for example, AI co-pilots are significantly improving the productivity of software development, for example. So, there are opportunities in terms of R&D productivity, but we are clearly going to always defend our ability to deliver R&D output.

And when it comes to sales resources, obviously, the sales reorganization and simplification of the organization that we are now doing is providing some potential. But there, ultimately, the sales resources will be scaled in accordance with what we see in terms of opportunities on the market. And then when it comes to SG&A, that is clearly an additional source of savings that we are seeing, and it is a meaningful part of the overall potential in the program.

David Mulholland: Thank you, Felix. Did you have a follow-up?

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