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S&P lowers long-term credit rating on Nokia to BBBAug 02, 2011 (M2 EQUITYBITES via COMTEX) -- 2 August 2011 - Standard & Poor's (S&P) downgraded today its long-term credit rating on Finnish mobile phone maker Nokia Oyj (HEL: NOK1V) to BBB from BBB+ and confirmed the A-2 short-term rating. The outlook for the long-term rating is "negative", which means that the rating could be cut further if S&P estimates that the operating margins of Nokia's Devices & Services unit are not likely to recover in the next six to nine months. S&P has removed all Nokia ratings from its CreditWatch negative list, where they were placed on 9 June. The rating agency still believes that Nokia could improve its currently weak position in the smartphone segment via its strategic cooperation with US software major Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ: MSFT). However, it will take time to migrate to Microsoft's Windows Phone software platform and during the transition period S&P expects low operating margins and further market share losses. Comments on this story may be sent to [email protected] |