So far, the trade war has not had any major effects.
It has actually had very limited impact. We saw possibly slightly faster purchases at the end of the first quarter from American operators. But otherwise, no impact on economic uncertainty, says Börje Ekholm to TT.
Can reduce gross margin
In the company's quarterly report, Ekholm writes:
"We are not immune, but we are resilient, with well-diversified production close to the customer and flexibility that allows us to adapt to changing conditions over time".
Concretely, he sees a fairly limited impact of the trade war, around one percentage unit of the gross margin.
Maybe 500 million kronor, he clarifies.
When it comes to the result from the first quarter, Ekholm is pleased and praises his colleagues for their efforts during the quarter.
All businesses are doing better today than they have done before, he says.
"Put in a lot of energy"
Ekholm is asked to explain why Ericsson performed so much better than expected in the first quarter.
We have put in a lot of energy into implementing our plans, he responds.
In the report, Ericsson reports an operating profit excluding restructuring costs of 6.2 billion kronor for the first quarter of the year. This can be compared to a profit of 4.3 billion kronor during the first quarter last year.
Analysts had on average expected 5.1 billion kronor according to Bloomberg.
Growth in North America
The turnover increased to 55 billion kronor from 53.3 billion kronor a year earlier. The increase was slightly less than expected.
Ericsson's sales in North and South America increased by 20 percent compared to the same quarter last year. Good growth in North America was partially offset by lower sales in Latin America.
Sales in Europe were unchanged compared to the same quarter last year, while sales declined in the Middle East due to reduced investments in 5G expansion. Sales also declined in Africa due to macroeconomic headwinds.
The Ericsson share has fallen by over 18 percent since the turn of the year. On Tuesday, there is a slight recovery. After a couple of hours of trading, the share has risen six percent.
