Ericsson reported higher-than-expected pretax profit and gross margins today.
The world's largest maker of telecoms equipment reported a pretax profit of 6.7 billion Swedish crowns ($952.2 million) versus the average forecast in a Reuters poll of 6.1 billion crowns and 3.7 billion crowns in the same period of 2004, restated for IFRS.
The company reported sales of 31.5 billion crowns versus a forecast 30.3 billion crowns. It announced a gross margin of 48.5 per cent versus a forecast 44.8 per cent and 44.7 per cent in the first quarter of 2004.
Ericsson kept its forecast for slight growth in the mobile networks market this year. The first-quarter operating margin was 21 per cent in the first quarter compared with a forecast 19.6 per cent and 14 in the same period of 2004.