Nokia to launch equivalent of up to $342 million in stock repurchases

Shares of Nokia Corp. NOK, +0.44% NOKIA, -0.91% rose 0.4% in premarket trading Friday, after the Finland-based network infrastructure company said it plans to start buying back up to EUR300 million ($341.8 million) of its stock on Feb. 14 at the earliest. The “first phase” of the company’s buyback plan, which is part of a previously announced two-year EUR600 million buyback program, will end by Dec. 22, 2022. “The purpose of the repurchases is to optimize Nokia’s capital structure through the reduction of capital,” the company said in a statement. The U.S.-listed stock has slipped 1.1% over the past three months through Thursday, while the S&P: 500 SPX, -0.58% has eased 3.1%.