By Juhana Rossi
Sweden's Ericsson AB on Tuesday reported a weaker-than-expected
net profit for the fourth quarter, hurt by a slowdown in spending
by network operators in North America.
However, the telecom-equipment maker said weaker sales in the
lucrative North American market were partly offset by a better
performance in the Middle East, Europe and Asia.
Ericsson reported net profit of 4.22 billion Swedish kronor
($508 million), or 1.29 kronor a share, for the fourth quarter,
below analysts' forecast of a median 4.56 billion kronor, or 1.39
kronor a share.
In the same period last year Ericsson's reported a net profit of
6.41 billion kronor, boosted by a one-time gain of 3.3 billion
kronor from a licensing agreement with Samsung Electronics Co.
Net sales in the October-to-December quarter came in at 67.99
billion kronor, up 1% from 67.03 billion kronor in the same period
last year.
Write to Juhana Rossi at juhana.rossi@wsj.com
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