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ERICSSON

Swedish CEOs see sharp rise in earnings

The wages of managing directors in Sweden's top stock exchange listed companies continued to rise sharply last year with many firms posting record profits.

Ericsson’s CEO Carl-Henric Svanberg has however lost his spot at the top of the pile in the wake of a spate of profit warnings in the autumn.

Svanberg’s total salary, including bonuses, amounted to 16.7 million kronor ($2.74 million) in 2007.

Truck maker Scania’s CEO Leif Östling leapfrogged Svanberg, receiving a total of 24.4 million kronor last year.

Astra Zeneca CEO David Brennan also had a good year in terms of wages despite the pharmaceutical giant recording lower profits than the previous year. Brennan earned 24 million kronor, up 10 percent on the 2006.

If however Swedish companies based abroad are included in the mix, ABB’s sacked chief executive Fred Kindle was last year’s biggest earner by quite some distance. Kindle’s wages and bonuses came to a cool 57 million kronor.

A survey of the chief executives of 44 of the largest companies on the Stockholm stock exchange showed an average wage of 11.5 million kronor, which was eight percent higher than the previous year, business magazine Veckans Affärer reports.

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.

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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