Swedish telecommunications equipment giant Ericsson this morning gave an upbeat estimate on its performance since the start of the year, saying it was better than expected.
In a surprise announcement, Ericsson said it was raising its expectations for gross margins for the first quarter, which was now expected to outstrip the 41.6% it achieved in the last three months of 2003.
Ericsson, which in the fourth quarter returned to net profit for the first time in years, said the expected improvement was due to its cost-cutting efforts which were paying off faster than expected.
Sales were expected to decline quarter-on-quarter, as expected previously, but should show small growth compared with the first quarter of 2003, Ericsson said. Detailed first-quarter results are scheduled for April 23.
Ericsson's announcements have been music to the ears of global technology investors ever since the company said in February that the worst was over for the global mobile market.
Presenting its 2003 results, Ericsson reported a return to the black in the fourth quarter after 10 straight quarters of deficits at the net level, but remained in loss for the full year.
Ericsson's own drastic restructuring was now over, with just some minor adjustments remaining until the autumn of this year, the company said at the time.
During its painful period of readjustment since 2000, Ericsson's workforce halved from over 100,000 to 51,600 by the end of 2003, and further bloodletting is to take its payroll to 47,000 this year.
