Ericsson has reported a better than expected 11% year-on-year increase in sales for the second quarter, and a lower than expected 20% decline in profit.
Reported sales grew to 60.7 billion krona ($7.01 billion), but adjusted for comparable currency declined 6%. This still exceeded Ericsson's forecasts for the quarter.
Net profit declined 20% year-on-year to 2.1 billion krona, but increased 46% quarter-on-quarter as the company's mobile broadband business in North America stabilized following three quarters of decline.
“The YoY decline in North America was partly offset by an increased pace of 4G deployments in mainland China. Sales growth was strong in the Middle East, India and South East Asia, while it continued to be weak in Japan,” Ericsson CEO Hans Vestberg commented.
“After a weak first quarter, segment Networks profitability recovered, driven by increased sales and a positive currency hedge effect.”
He said Ericsson made good progress with its cost and efficiency program during the quarter, and has maintained its target of achieving savings of around 9 billion krona during 2017 compared to 2014.
“The consolidation in the industry continues, both among vendors and customers, creating opportunities and challenges. Therefore we have, during the first half of 2015, accelerated our transformation journey towards becoming a true ICT company,” Vestberg added.