"We are delivering a stable quarter, albeit with slightly declining sales," CEO Börje Ekholm told TT.
The profit was slightly lower than expected. Analysts had expected an average of SEK 6.6 billion, according to a compilation of forecasts by the Bloomberg news agency.
Net sales fell 6 percent to SEK 52.7 billion.
"During the second quarter, we took measures to limit the effects of rising component costs. As the impact increases in the coming quarters, we will continue to take internal measures and price adjustments to help mitigate the effects," Börje Ekholm says in a comment in the report.
What does he mean by that?
It's a challenging environment with component inflation, how memory prices are developing, etc. We have to balance that, and we do that through internal measures, cost efficiency and how we develop products, among other things.
Do you need to reduce staff even more?
We are in a fairly flat market, it is not growing very much. And that requires us to be cost-effective, he says.
Potential in AI
Even though the market is not growing much, Ekholm sees potential for growth in AI.
The discussion is very focused on data centres and semiconductors. But the next step is for it to move into applications and for companies to use AI in their operations. That requires a different type of connectivity, so we are quite optimistic about the demand for mobile networks.
Ekholm is in his tenth year and will step down as CEO this fall. This is his last quarterly report.
I am most pleased that we have fantastic employees in this company. We have a very good financial position. This creates opportunities to take the next step.
Boot towards Europe
Börje Ekholm comments on the industrial climate in Sweden.
You have to be humble when it comes to politics. It's easy to sit and review and I often think that's a bit unfair. I think you can say that Sweden, if you look locally, we have an incredibly strong position. We have a very competitive business community overall.
The problem is not Sweden, he says.
I usually say that our big problem is that we are in a "shitty neighborhood"; Europe is not in the same condition at all.
What will Ekholm do next?
We'll see. I'll probably take on one or more board assignments. I expect to get involved in something of my own. Maybe do some hiking in the mountains and skiing.
