Ericsson's earnings fell sharply in the fourth quarter of last year

Stockholm, January 25 (Xinhua Ping) The world's leading mobile communications equipment manufacturer Sweden Ericsson 25th reported a performance report showing that Ericsson's fourth quarter 2009 sales and profits fell sharply year-on-year.　　During the period from October 2009 to December, Ericsson's global sales reached only SEK 58.3 billion (1 U.S. dollars, about 7.2 Swedish krona), down 13% from the same period in 2008, and net profit of only 700 million SEK, down 82% per cent.　　Ericsson's annual sales for 2009 were SEK 206.5 billion, down 1% from 2008, with a full-year net profit of SEK 4.1 billion, down 65%.　　Hans Westberg, who officially assumed the new president of Ericsson this January 1, said telecoms operators in some countries in central, Middle East and Africa have invested cautiously in 2009, which has affected Ericsson's sales growth. In addition, Ericsson's 2009 net profit declined largely because of the company's restructuring efforts.　　Ericsson's restructuring work in the fourth quarter of last year cost SEK 4.3 billion, more than 2 billion Swedish krona over the same period in 2008, and a total of 11.3 billion Swedish krona for the entire 2009 reorganization. Ericsson announced it would complete its restructuring work in the first half of this year to achieve its target of reducing its annual operating costs by 15 billion to SEK 16 billion from the second half of the year. To that end, the company is expected to increase layoffs.