Ericcson posts growth in recovering market

Telecom equipment maker Ericsson posted a small third-quarter profit rise amid a record performance at its mobile phone joint…

Telecom equipment maker Ericsson posted a small third-quarter profit rise amid a record performance at its mobile phone joint venture.

The star performer was Sony Ericsson, owned jointly with Sony and which after five years in existence has become the world's fourth largest mobile phone maker.

Ericsson said a period of strong price pressure in network equipment was coming to an end.

Ericsson Ireland employs 1,600 people in the Republic.

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"It was a record quarter (for Sony Ericsson)," Ericsson Chief Executive Carl-Henric Svanberg said. "This was a quarter when everything hit very well."

But he warned that similar strong results in mobile phones may not be repeated in the future.

Ericsson reported a pretax profit of 8.8 billion Swedish crowns (€950 million), excluding one off items, and 8.9 billion crowns including one-offs, compared with 8.3 billion in the second quarter of 2006 and eight billion a year ago.

Sony Ericsson earlier this month reported a pretax profit of €433 million, twice as much as expected, and contributed two billion crowns to Ericsson's earnings.