By Alessandro Parodi
(Reuters) -Nokia expects the second half of 2025 to be stronger than the first, CEO Justin Hotard said on Thursday, two days after the network equipment maker issued a profit warning due to a weaker U.S. dollar and tariffs.
“Considering these two headwinds, we decided it was prudent at this point to lower our comparable operating profit outlook,” Hotard said in a statement.
He told reporters in a call that other significant foreign exchange moves were a risk in the near term, estimating an impact of 10 million to 15 million euros ($12 million to $18 million) for every one cent of change in the euro-dollar exchange rate.
Nokia’s shares were up about 1% in early trade. They had fallen 7.6% on Wednesday after the profit warning the night before.
Hotard said on Thursday that the company would simplify some of its operation and continue to invest in connectivity to capitalise on the growth of artificial intelligence, targeting communication service providers but also new areas such as defence and national security.
An agreement between NATO members to increase their defence spending target to 5% of gross domestic product will be an opportunity for the company, he told Reuters.
Hotard, who was previously the head of Intel’s AI and data centre business, became CEO in April.
A decade ago, the Finnish firm had moved away from its once-dominant mobile phone business, which made it a household name thanks to its 3310 model, to focus on telecoms infrastructure serving carriers and enterprise clients.
Nokia also confirmed its preliminary figures for the second quarter, which had missed market expectations on Tuesday.
Its revenue grew marginally to 4.55 billion euros while its operating profit, which excludes certain charges and asset revaluations to make it comparable with last year’s results, fell 29% to 301 million euros in the quarter.
That was below an average analyst forecast of 402 million euros in an Infront consensus provided by Nokia on July 17, even excluding the reported 60-million-euro currency revaluation and an impact from tariffs of between 20 and 30 million euros.
($1 = 0.8493 euros)
(Reporting by Alessandro Parodi in Gdansk, editing by Milla Nissi-Prussak)
