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Technology Stocks : Ericsson overlook? -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Jim Oravetz who wrote (5147)	3/17/2003 11:54:26 PM
From: elmatador	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 5390

Too little, too late, perhaps.

To: Jim Oravetz who wrote (5147)	4/8/2003 5:44:27 AM
From: elmatador	Respond to of 5390

New Ericsson chief to tackle bureaucracy By Christopher Brown-Humes in Stockholm Published: April 8 2003 10:11 \| Last Updated: April 8 2003 10:11 <<Not an easy task owing to the fact that most of his management team is the old Ericsson hands, yes, all of them from the University of Lund>> Ericsson's new chief executive on Tuesday said he intended to launch an assault on the group's internal bureaucracy, raising the prospect of further restructuring and job losses at the Swedish telecommunications equipment group. Speaking to the Financial Times on his first day in his new job and ahead of Tuesday's annual meeting, Carl-Henric Svanberg also said he saw no need for the company to seek to raise further funds from the market "at this point in time". Last year the group raised SKr30bn ($3.5bn) from shareholders to stave off collapse after experiencing a dramatic fall in orders and sales, negative cash-flow, and a plunge into the red. There has already been speculation that the company will need to consider a new issue, such as a convertible, to give it a cushion if the market situation does not improve soon and losses continue. Mr Svanberg, an outsider who moved to Ericsson from Swedish lockmaker Assa Abloy, said a top priority was to improve Ericsson's internal efficiency. "We are good at inventing products and we are good at selling our technologies to customers. We are not good at how we organize workflows. We need to simplify and be clearer." He accepted that the changes would mean "less people in the same sales development" but he declined to quantify the scale of any cutbacks. Analysts have already indicated they believe Ericsson may need to cut a further 10,000 jobs, in addition to cuts of nearly 50,000 in the last two years, if it is to succeed in cutting its annual operating expenses to SKr38bn by the end of this year from SKr88bn in the year 2000. The group has about 60,000 employees. The other priority was to get Ericsson back to profit after nine consecutive quarters of losses. "We need to come back to profit however the market is going to develop. Getting profit is the only way to control our destiny." He declined to comment on the market outlook, saying the issue would be taken up when the group presents its first quarter results on April 29. The group has previously said it believes the mobile infrastructure market will decline by up to 10 per cent this year, after last year's fall of 20 per cent. It has also said it hopes to return to profit, excluding restructuring charges, in the autumn. Mr Svanberg accepted the group was going through a period of "pretty dramatic difficulties" but said internal company morale was better than he had feared. He kept his options open regarding the future of Ericsson's 50 per cent stake in Sony Ericsson, the group's loss-making handsets joint venture with Sony of Japan. "I get a good impression when I am there and I can see the clear value in our ownership of Sony Ericsson. It would be sad if it didn't work out. They have a clear task ahead of them but I am hopeful," he stated. Mr Svanberg unveiled an 18-strong management team, whose main hallmark was continuity from the regime of his predecessor, Kurt Hellström. He accepted it was a broad team, but said that was necessary at some stages of a company's development. "We need a broad team so that we can anchor our decisions and achieve fast implementation of them," he stated.

To: Jim Oravetz who wrote (5147)	4/24/2003 5:29:39 AM
From: elmatador	Respond to of 5390

Wallenberg turbulence By Sabuhi Mir Financial Times; Apr 24, 2003 Investor, the holding company of Sweden's Wallenberg empire, on Wednesday said it had suffered sharp falls in its core equity holdings in the first quarter. The value of the company's core holdings fell to SKr3.9bn ($469m). AstraZeneca accounted for SKr1.47bn of the decrease and Ericsson for SKr852m. Investor's net asset value fell 6 per cent to SKr77 a share in the period to March 31, against SKr82 a share on December 31 2002. Marcus Wallenberg, chief executive, said: "There is increased uncertainty about the global economy and many growth forecasts have been cut back." The continuing stock market decline and weak economy had limited investment activity during the first quarter. Sabuhi Mir, London

To: Jim Oravetz who wrote (5147)	4/29/2003 12:07:58 AM
From: elmatador	Respond to of 5390

Cost reductions in focus when analysts estimate Ericsson's Q1 results. Ericsson will have to focus on continuous restructuring since the market for mobile telephony is still weak, according to analysts. They do not expect to receive any signs of positive market outlook when the first quarter results are presented tomorrow Tuesday. Media also speculates if Carl-Henric Svanberg will present further staff reductions and analysts point out that Ericsson's R&D has not been affected as much as sales and marketing. An analyst forecast compilation made by SME Direkt, shows an estimated profits before tax of minus SEK 3,470 million for Q1, compared to minus SEK 5,347 in Q1 last year. (Direkt and Dagens Industri 4/26)