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Swedish Ericsson sees shares sink after missing expectations

Swedish telecom giant Ericsson reported lower-than-expected profits for the third quarter on Thursday, sending its shares diving as the company stressed rising uncertainty in global markets.

Swedish Ericsson sees shares sink after missing expectations
File photo of Ericsson's CEO Börje Ekholm. Photo: Jessica Gow/TT

Ericsson’s shares sank by more than 11 percent as the Stockholm stock exchange opened.

Sweden’s Ericsson reported a net profit of 5.4 billion Swedish kronor ($480 million) between July and September, down seven percent compared to a year earlier.

It was below analyst expectations of between 5.7 billion and 5.9 billion kronor, according to surveys by financial data firm FactSet and Bloomberg news agency.

The lower profits were partly due to Ericsson’s $6.2 billion acquisition of US cloud communications company Vonage.

Chief executive Börje Ekholm said the company would “continue to be proactive in reviewing options to reduce costs.”

“Cost efficiency is also crucial to allow investments in technology leadership and to strengthen our resilience in an uncertain market,” Ekholm said in a statement.

He added that Ericsson was making “pricing adjustments” as inflation soars worldwide.

Ericsson reported an increase in net sales to 68 billion kronor, up from 56.3 billion kronor the year before, but its sales were impacted by its departures from Russia following the invasion of Ukraine.

Ericsson said the withdrawal from the Russian market impacted sales by 800 million kronor.

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STRIKES

Swedish union slams Tesla for bringing in foreign strike breakers

Tesla is allegedly bringing in workers from countries such as the UK, Ireland and Portugal to fill the gaps left by striking employees in Sweden.

Swedish union slams Tesla for bringing in foreign strike breakers

Twenty-four workers from other European countries have on 41 occasions since February been flown in to work at one of Tesla’s service centres in Sweden, reports trade union news site Dagens Arbete, citing public documents from the Work Environment Authority.

IF Metall, Sweden’s metalworkers union, launched a full-scale strike against Tesla in October, demanding that the US car manufacturer sign a collective bargaining agreement. Several other unions in Sweden have also launched solidarity action against Tesla in response.

The fact that Tesla is bringing in people from other countries shows that the industrial action is having an effect, argues Peter Lydell, an ombudsman for IF Metall. He criticised the company for using strike breakers, a practice that hasn’t happened in Sweden since the 1930s.

“Sometimes we see them arriving by taxi and carrying suitcases. Or they get picked up by someone at Arlanda and go directly to the garage,” he told Dagens Arbete, which is affiliated with but editorially independent from IF Metall and the GS-facket and Pappers unions.

It writes that strike breakers have so far been brought in from the following countries: Belgium, Denmark, Finland, France, Ireland, Italy, Luxembourg, Austria, Norway, Portugal, Switzerland, Spain, UK and the Netherlands.

WORKING IN SWEDEN:

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