Ericsson Reports Lower Than Expected Result For Third Quarter 2007

October 16, 2007 -- Ericsson (NASDAQ:ERIC) expects sales of SEK 43.5 b., an operating income of SEK 5.6 b. and a cash flow of SEK -1.6 b. for the third quarter 2007. This is below the company's own as well as current market expectations and primarily a result of an unexpected shift in the business mix.

"The unexpected development in the quarter is mainly due to a shortfall in sales in mobile network upgrades and expansions which resulted in an unfavorable business mix that also negatively affected Group margins," said Carl-Henric Svanberg, President and CEO of Ericsson. "All other businesses performed as expected. The effect of market dynamics is always a matter of judgment. This quarter we have underestimated the effects."

Ericsson's networks business continues to develop most rapidly in regions where new network rollouts and break-in contracts are predominant. This is where competition is intense as it builds footprint for long-term profitable growth. So far the margin pressures from these business activities have been offset by higher margin sales such as network expansions and upgrades. Such expansions and upgrades have a short sales cycle and builds during the quarter. This quarter, sales of these higher margin offerings did not materialize as much as in previous quarters. High margin software sales are also lower than normal.

The Professional Services segment continues to show strong growth and stable margins. The Multimedia segment is expected to also show a strong growth with operating income slightly above breakeven level, reflecting the continued investments in new business areas.

"In infrastructure scale is critical for success. Our strategy to regain scale advantage through increased mobile systems market shares has been effective. The present market dynamics are however working to our disadvantage from a short-term financial perspective. Now that we have reestablished our scale advantage from the pre-industry consolidation we will shift our focus slightly and capitalize on our market share gains," said Carl-Henric Svanberg

[Ericsson discloses the information provided herein pursuant to the Swedish Securities Exchange and Clearing Operations Act and/or the Swedish Financial Instruments Trading Act. The information was submitted for publication at 07.30 CET, on October 16, 2007.]

Source: Ericsson

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