Nokia Siemens on Track to Meet 2008 EUR2 Billion Synergy Target

STOCKHOLM -(Dow Jones)- Nokia Siemens Networks Thursday said is set to reach its EUR2 billion targeted annual cost synergies by the end of the year.

The company also said its chief financial officer will be stepping down as it moves into a different stage of its ongoing integration process.

Eric Simonsen, NSN's CFO, said much of the integration between Nokia's and Siemens's network businesses, which merged in April last year, is finished, adding that the job of the next CFO, Luca Maestri, will be to fine-tune the company's business plan going forward.

"This is the appropriate time for me to leave," said Simonsen. "I specialize in merger integrations, I'm there to drive change and once things start to get better and improve, it's time for me to leave," he told Dow Jones Newswires in an interview following the news. "It's time to put away the saw and get out the sandpaper."

Simonsen didn't give any comment on how the company views the broader infrastructure market, focusing only to what was in Nokia's second quarter report.

-By Adam Ewing, Dow Jones Newswires; +46 8 545 130 95; adam.ewing@dowjones.com

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

Posted to the site on 11th September 2008