Finland-based technology company Nokia Corp. completed the acquisition of French-American telecommunications equipment supplier Alcatel-Lucent in January 2016 and, in our view, is on track to meet its cost cutting and transformation targets. However, the group is currently facing tougher-than-expected industry conditions. As a result, we have lowered our revenue, margin, and free operating cash flow (FOCF) expectations in 2016, but kept our assumption of a meaningful margin improvement in 2017 and 2018 thanks to the expected cost synergies. We are therefore affirming our 'BB+' long-term corporate credit rating on Nokia. The positive outlook continues to reflect the potential for a one-notch upgrade if Nokia successfully executes the integration of Alcatel-Lucent and if its revenues perform at least in line with
