Ericsson fourth-quarter sales drop 13 per cent

Swedish telecommunications giant Ericsson on Monday reported a drop in fourth-quarter sales and net income, blaming it partly over cautious investments by operators in some markets, DPA reported.

Net income - after losses and restructuring charges - shrank 82 per cent to 700 million kronor (97 million dollars), the group said, while fourth-quarter net sales fell 13 per cent to 58.3 billion kronor.

Operating income, excluding restructuring charges, was 7.5 billion kronor in the quarter, down 16 per cent year on year.

For full-year 2009, net sales were down 1 per cent to 206 billion kronor while net income fell 65 per cent to 4.1 billion kronor.

The group however "maintained market shares well in all segments," Chief Executive Hans Vestberg said.

Vestberg noted that in 2009 "operators in a number of developing markets, especially Central Europe, Middle East and Africa, became increasingly cautious with investments."

"Other markets including China, India and the US continued to show good development with major network buildouts," he added.

Vestberg recently succeeded Carl-Henric Svanberg, who has left the group to become chairman at British Petroleum (BP).

Ericsson expected its cost saving plan to be completed in the second quarter this year, and expected to save some 15-16 billion kronor by the second half of 2010.