Investing.com — Shares of Ericsson (ST:) dropped over 8% on Friday after the Swedish telecom giant reported disappointing quarterly results, citing underwhelming sales in India as a contributing factor.
The company’s adjusted EBITA for the fourth quarter fell short of analysts’ expectations by 8%, with weak performance in its Enterprise and Cloud Software (ETR:) & Services divisions compounding challenges in the Indian market.
India, a significant growth driver for Ericsson in past quarters, saw its contribution to total group sales shrink to 4% in Q4 from 8% a year earlier.
This decline occurred despite strong North American sales growth of 70% year-over-year, driven by demand for network deployment.
However, the North American strength was insufficient to offset challenges elsewhere, particularly in markets like Europe and India, which have struggled with growth.
The company’s total revenue for the quarter came in line with consensus expectations, but higher-than-expected bonus payouts pressured adjusted EBITA margins, which declined by 1.2 percentage points compared to consensus.
Gross margins showed a modest improvement, partly aided by one-time intellectual property payments, but operational efficiencies in supply chains were not enough to counterbalance weaker sales growth in several regions.
“Given the new IPR run rate, we estimate the IPR beat was roughly half higher IPR revenues and half catch up payments,” said analysts at Barclays (LON:) in a note.
Ericsson’s guidance for the first quarter of 2025 suggests continued headwinds, with expected seasonal declines in revenue from both the Networks and Cloud Software & Services divisions.
The company also indicated that restructuring charges would remain elevated throughout 2025, further weighing on profitability.
Barclays estimates a 13% downside risk to consensus EBITA for Q1 2025, flagging operational expenses as a critical variable in the company’s financial outlook.
