Nokia is well prepared and financially stable for the 2020 COVID-19 pandemic
At a Nokia Newsroom website, there is an interesting section with the listed answers to frequently asked questions about the taken steps and policies to protect the employees and the company’s general preparation regarding the supply channel that might be in danger due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Nokia did concise answers and revealed some interesting financial bits about the company that might raise the value of its stocks.
Nokia did all the precautions regarding the virus even before it caused a pandemic. Employees are allowed to work from their homes, the international travel was forbidden except for strictly-defined ‘critical’ reasons, and all the facilities are closed for visitors except for the necessary maintenance workers. Nokia is also providing guidance for their employees to maintain a healthy work-life balance and look after their physical and mental well-being during the quarantine days.
Nokia is doing all the meetings virtually, and they are still active, but primarily to keep everyone safe and to keep networks functioning well, worldwide. Finns organized the supply chain well, so the distribution of the products is not endangered. Nokia has 25 manufacturing plants all around the world, and 6 hubs for customer fulfilment, so the business is not struck by the pandemic. This year will be hard for everyone, but Nokia is doing fine regarding financial liquidity. The past year Finns ended with 6 billion euros of cash.
They also stated that a 1.5 billion euro revolving credit facility has not been used yet. Nokia also increased its liquidity at the end of February 2020 by drawing on the loans they signed with European Investment Bank back in 2018. The best thing is that Nokia does not have any debt repayments due in 2020 and all of its debt is financial covenant free.
Nokia seems to be doing well now and will survive COVID-19 pretty well. They are also trying to sell some Alcatel Lucent properties in the Chicago area, which will help improve financial liquidity.
Source Nokia Press
