Ericsson reports operating profit of SEK28.9bn in 2004

Nordic Business Report, Feb 10, 2005

NORDIC BUSINESS REPORT-10 February 2005-Ericsson reports operating profit of SEK28.9bn in 2004(C)1994-2005 M2 COMMUNICATIONS LTD http://www.m2.com

Swedish telecomms solutions provider Ericsson reported on Thursday (10 February) an operating profit of SEK28.9bn on net sales of SEK132.0bn for the financial year January-December 2004.

Both operating profit and net sales for the 12-month period increased, respectively from SEK5.2bn and SEK117.7bn, as compared to the financial year 2003.

Operating profit for the quarter October-December 2004 amounted to SEK9.5bn on net sales of SEK39.4bn.

Earnings per share (EPS) in 2004 improved to SEK1.20 from the loss of SEK0.69 in 2003. The company's board of directors would propose a dividend of SEK0.25 per share for 2004.

Ericsson expected the traffic growth in the world's mobile networks to continue as a result of new services as well as new subscribers. The company maintained its view that the global mobile systems market would show slight growth in 2005, as compared to 2004.

One Swedish krona (SEK) is worth approximately 0.08 British pounds (GBP).

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