Ericsson reports third quarter 2014 - Seite 2

Sales in North America continued to be driven by operator investments in capacity and quality enhancements. However, business activity slowed down during the quarter as operators currently focus on cash flow optimization.

The momentum for Professional Services continued and generated organic growth in the quarter driven by managed services sales and systems integration. The acquired Red Bee Media was successfully integrated and fully consolidated in the third quarter.

Political unrest prevails in many parts of the world, especially in the Middle East and Northern Africa. The quarter shows that our global footprint, with customer in 180 countries, gives us the scale and strength to manage regional variations.

Profitability showed stable improvement across all segments. This was primarily driven by favorable business mix, higher IPR revenues as well as efficiency enhancements. Operating income was negatively impacted by effects from hedge contracts, higher operating expenses related to modems and the acquired Mediaroom business as well as planned ramp up of investments in IP. 

We continue to execute on our strategic agenda; to improve our profitability in the core business in order to invest in targeted areas such as IP networks, Cloud, TV & Media and OSS & BSS. Three important acquisitions were made in the quarter:

• MetraTech accelerates our cloud and enterprise billing capabilities within BSS
• Fabrix Systems extends our overall leadership position in TV & Media
• Majority stake in Apcera that strengthens our position in enterprise cloud

During the quarter we took the strategic decision to stop all further development of modems and shift some R&D resources from segment Modems to Networks to pursue growth opportunities in the radio business.

Through our technology and services leadership we are well positioned to continue to be a strategic partner to our customers as they move to capture new market opportunities.

NOTES TO EDITORS

You find the complete report with tables in the attached PDF or by following this link:
www.ericsson.com/res/investors/docs/q-reports/2014/09month14-en.pdf or on to: www.ericsson.com/investors

Ericsson invites media, investors and analysts to a briefing at the Ericsson Studio, Grönlandsgången 4, Stockholm, at 09.00 (CET), October 24, 2014.
An analysts, investors and media conference call will begin at 14.00 (CET).

Live webcast of the briefing and conference call details, as well as supporting slides, will be available at www.ericsson.com/press and www.ericsson.com/investors