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STOCKHOLM

Bourse closes up despite Ericsson

The Stockholm stock exchange ended the week on a positive note despite Ericsson's report. A turbulent bourse week ended with stocks climbing across the board.

Published: 2 February 2008 08:13 CET

By close of trading the OMXS index had climbed 3 percent to 318.5 points.

Swedish telecom infrastructure group Ericsson presented a weak report on Friday morning and the firm’s share tumbled as a result to close the day 3.5 percent down. Ericsson’s announcement to cut 1,000 jobs in Sweden did nothing to lighten the mood.

Traders could not decide what to make of Ericsson’s report and despite the firm failing to meet analyst forecasts the stock market made a positive start to the day. The stock market resumed its familiar roller-coaster pattern in the afternoon.

At lunch time in Sweden the news filtered through that US software giant Microsoft had bid the equivalent of 285 billion kronor for Yahoo. The news sent positive vibrations across global markets. US employment statistics dampened the good mood slightly.

Engineering stocks performed well with Sandvik, SKF, Atlas Copco and Volvo climbing strongly. Clothing retailer H & M continued its positive development since the presentation of its report earlier in the week and shot up 5.4 percent by closing. Mining concern Boliden led the leader board of the major companies with a climb of 13.54 percent.

Stockholm’s OMXS index was in line with other European bourses with Frankfurt’s DAX and Paris CAC indices climbing 1.6 percent and 2.2 percent respectively. London’s FTSE index finished the day up 2.5 percent at 6,029.2 points. New York’s Dow Jones completed the positive end to the week, closing up 0.7 percent at 12,743.19 points.

SWEDEN AND UKRAINE

Ericsson suspends all Russia operations indefinitely

Swedish network equipment maker Ericsson said Monday that it was suspending all of its Russian operations over the war in Ukraine for the foreseeable future.

Published: 11 April 2022 19:42 CEST
Ericsson suspends all Russia operations indefinitely

The telecom giant already announced in late February that it would stop all deliveries to Russia following Moscow’s February 24 invasion of Ukraine.

“In the light of recent events and of European Union sanctions, the company will now suspend its affected business with customers in Russia indefinitely,” Ericsson said in a statement.

The company added that it was “engaging with customers and partners regarding the indefinite suspension of the affected business.”

“The priority is to focus on the safety and well-being of Ericsson employees in Russia and they will be placed on paid leave,” it said.

READ ALSO: How has Sweden responded to Putin’s war in Ukraine so far?

Hundreds of Western firms ranging from Ikea to Coca-Cola, Goldman Sachs and McDonald’s have stopped operations in the country since the invasion, with French banking group Societe Generale announcing Monday it was selling its stake in Russia’s Rosbank.

Ericsson has around 600 employees in Russia, and is a “major supplier to the largest operator MTS and the fourth largest operator Tele2,” a company spokeswoman told AFP, adding that together with Ukraine, Russia accounts for less than two percent of revenue.

As a result, the equipment maker said it would record a provision for 900 million Swedish kronor ($95 million, 87 million euros) for the first quarter of 2022 for “impairment of assets and other exceptional costs,” though no staff redundancy costs were included.
Ericsson is due to publish its first quarter earnings on April 14.

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