Ericsson cutting an extra 1,500 jobs

Swedish telecoms equipment group Ericsson has said it is cutting an extra 1,500 jobs, as it reported a 92% fall in quarterly profits.

Hit by the cost of its restructuring work, and a continuing drop in orders, its net profit for October to December was 314m kronors ($43m; £27m).

This compares with 3.89bn kronors for the same quarter in 2008.

The latest 1,500 job cuts come on top of the 5,000 positions that the company shed last year.

They're saved by cost cuts, and that will probably be the case in 2010, so it's in no way a disaster Michael Andersson, Evli Bank

Ericsson said the cost of its continuing restructuring work totalled 4.3bn kronors between October and December, and 11.3bn kroners for 2009 as a whole.

Its sales for the last quarter of 2009 fell by 13% to 58.3bn kroners, as global spending on telecoms equipment continued to fall, and as Ericsson faced increased competition from China's Huawei.

Ericsson's latest results were much worse than market targets.

Analysts had expected the company to report a quarterly net profit of 3.23bn kronor.

For 2009 as a whole, Ericsson saw its net profit fall 67% to 3.7bn kronor.

"You know, the market is weak, but one might have hoped for some recovery in quarter four," said analyst Michael Andersson of Evli Bank.

"They're saved by cost cuts, and that will probably be the case in 2010, so it's in no way a disaster."

Source: news.bbc.co.uk

Posted in: 500 jobs,analyst Michael Andersson of Evli Bank,cutting an extra 1,Ericsson,fall in quarterly profits,so it's in no way a disaster,Swedish,Swedish telecoms equipment group