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Thursday, January 31, 2013

Ericsson results hit by ST-Ericsson costs

Ericsson has published fourth quarter and full-year financial results. The company made a loss of 6.3 billion Krona (£625 million) in Q4 2012, although it remained in profit for the year. Net income for 2012 was down 53% year-on-year to £586 million, while sales were up 5% to £6.6 billion for the quarter and almost unchanged year-on-year at £22.6 billion for the full year.

The figures were better than some analysts had expected.

Last month, Ericsson said it was going to write down approximately 8 billion Krona (£794 million) related to its 50% stake in ST-Ericsson. The other 50% partner, STMicroelectronics, plans to leave the joint venture.

However, selling the Sony Ericsson mobile business helped boost Ericsson’s income for the year.

Hans Vestberg, Ericsson’s President and CEO, said “Our segments showed mixed developments during the year with strong growth in Global Services and Support Solutions, while Networks had a more challenging year. Support Solutions went from losses in 2011 into profitability and together with Global Services represented close to 50% of Group sales in 2012, compared to 42% in 2011”

“During the year profitability was negatively impacted by operating losses in ST-Ericsson, the ongoing network modernization projects in Europe as well as the underlying business mix, with a higher share of coverage projects than capacity projects. With present visibility of customer demand, and with the current global economic development, underlying business mix is expected to gradually shift towards more capacity projects during the second half of 2013.”

“The quarter was negatively impacted by a non-cash charge related to ST-Ericsson. Following the announcement of STMicroelectronics' intention to exit as a shareholder, Ericsson will explore various strategic options for ST-Ericsson assets. We believe that the modem technology, which we originally contributed to the JV, has a strategic value to the wireless industry.”

“The work to leverage our strength in the growth areas mobile broadband, managed services and operations and business support systems (OSS/BSS) has continued during the year, with both selective acquisitions and divestments. In addition, we completed the divestment of Sony Ericsson and introduced a new strategy for Support Solutions. Improving profitability, reducing costs and working capital remain high on the agenda also for 2013. While the macroeconomic and political uncertainty continues in certain regions the long-term fundamentals in the industry remain attractive and we are well positioned to continue to support our customers in a transforming ICT market.”

[Report (pdf)]

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