AFP – Ericsson said yesterday it returned to profit in the third quarter as a big contract with United States (US) carrier AT&T gave the Swedish telecommunications equipment giant a boost.
Ericsson posted a net profit of SEK3.9 billion (USD374 million) in the quarter after a heavy loss of SEK30.5 billion over the same period last year.
Last year’s loss was due to a write-down on the value of its purchase of US cloud-based communications operator Vonage.
Ericsson reported “strong growth” in its North America market, where it beat out Finnish rival Nokia for a USD14 billion five-year contract with AT&T in December.
The group posted overall sales of SEK61.8 billion in the third quarter, down four per cent from last year.
Both profit and sales were slightly higher than forecast by analysts surveyed by Bloomberg.
