Swedish telecoms equipment maker Ericsson today dismissed share-moving speculation that it would issue a profit warning, saying there was no reason for it.
Ericsson's share price fell suddenly this morning, with brokers and analysts attributing the move to market talk that the company might warn on profits.
"There are no grounds whatsoever," Ericsson spokeswoman Ms Ase Lindskog said, when asked if the company was about to issue a profit warning.
The Ericsson share was down 2.3 per cent at 62.5 crowns by mid-morning, having traded as low as 61.50.
The market was rife with talk that Ericsson's cash flow might be weaker than anticipated in the fourth quarter and about the company possibly having lost market share to rival Nokia.
Finland-based Nokia, the leading maker of mobile phones, said yesterday it had won market share in the fourth quarter.
A spokesman for Sony Ericsson, the mobile phone joint venture set up by Ericsson and Japan's Sony, said the company did not expect to lose market share in the final quarter of 2001.
Talk of an Ericsson profit warning was also fuelled by small downgrades of earnings-per-share forecasts from Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley this morning, brokers said.