Moto Assets Help NSN's Q2 Growth

Nokia Networks reported a 20 percent year-on-year hike in its second-quarter revenues to €3.64 billion (US$5.24 billion) Thursday, helped by two months of revenues from the Motorola wireless infrastructure assets it finally acquired in April. (See NSN Finally Seals $975M Moto Deal.)

But that growth wasn't due only to the acquired lines of business. Parent Nokia Corp. (NYSE: NOK) noted in its earnings report that "excluding the acquired Motorola networks assets, Nokia Siemens Networks net sales would have increased 13 percent year-on-year."

That puts NSN's second-quarter revenues, excluding the Moto assets, at €3.43 billion ($4.93 billion) and the sales contribution of the Motorola lines at €208 million ($299 million) for May and June.

Just for fun: By extrapolating that figure, the new Motorola assets have a quarterly revenue run rate of around €310 million ($446 million).

The addition of the new assets has at least had one of the desired effects, as NSN's North American revenues leaped by 72 percent to €311 million ($447.3 million) in the second quarter. (See NSN Expands in North America With Moto Buyout.)

Table 1: NSN Revenues by Region, Q2 2011

In millions of euros	Q2 2010	Q2 2011	YoY change
Europe	1,136	1,122	-1%
Middle East & Africa	400	389	-3%
Greater China	357	403	+13%
Asia/Pacific	594	973	+64%
North America	181	311	+72%
Latin America	371	444	+20%
Total	3,039	3,642	+20%
Source: NSN

NSN's margins are still a concern, however. Its second-quarter gross margin was 26.6 percent, down from 30.8 percent a year earlier, while its operating loss was €111 million ($160 million), though that is an improvement from a year ago.

Table 2: NSN Key Financials Q2 2011

In millions of euros	Q2 2010	Q2 2011	Y/Y change	Q1 2011	Q/Q change
Revenues	3,039	3,642	+20%	3,171	15%
Reported operating profit	-179	-111	+38%	-142	22%
Adjusted operating profit*	51	40	-22%	3	--
*Excluding one-time costs and special items

Its non-IFRS operating profit (before one-time charges) was €40 million ($57.5 million), giving it a non-IFRS operating margin of just 1.1 percent, down from 1.7 percent in the same quarter a year ago.

Nokia expects NSN to generate revenues in the range of €3.2 billion to €3.5 billion ($4.6 billion to $5 billion) in the third quarter, during which the equipment vendor's parents are expected to reveal their plans for the venture following their decision to remain the sole investors. (See NSN Fails to Find New Investor and NSN's Future Still up in the Air.)

— Ray Le Maistre, International Managing Editor, Light Reading