Outgoing Ericsson chief slams Europe as a 'shitty neighbourhood' for business
Swedish telecoms giant Ericsson reported an adjusted operating profit of 6.5 billion kronor for the second quarter of the year. This compares to a profit of 7.0 billion kronor during the corresponding quarter last year.
"We are delivering a stable quarter, albeit with a slight decline in sales," outgoing CEO Börje Ekholm told the TT newswire.
The profit was slightly lower than expected. Analysts had, on average, forecast a profit of 6.6 billion kronor, according to a compilation of forecasts by Bloomberg.
Net sales fell by 6 percent to 52.7 billion kronor.
Ekholm is in his tenth year at the helm and will step down this autumn. This was his final quarterly report.
"What I am most pleased with is that we have fantastic employees in this company. We are in a strong financial position, which creates opportunities for investment," he said.
He described the company's market as stagnant in terms of growth, but argued there is potential in AI.
"We are quite optimistic about the demand for mobile networks, but we don't know exactly when it will happen," he said.
He also commented on the situation for the Swedish industry sphere at the moment.
"One has to be a bit humble. It's easy to sit back and review things, but I think you can say that locally we are in an extremely strong position – we have a strong business climate in general."
But he took a parting shot at the rest of Europe.
"We are in a 'shitty neighbourhood'," he said in English. "Europe is not nearly as good."
As for what Ekholm will do next?
"We'll see. I'll probably take on one or two board roles. I expect to get involved in some projects of my own. Perhaps do some hiking in the mountains and do some skiing."
Swedish vocabulary: opportunities – möjligheter
Five-year-old girl injured in 'violent incident' in Helsingborg
A five-year-old girl was left seriously injured by a violent incident in the southern Swedish city of Helsingborg, according to a statement on the regional authorities' website.
Police confirmed they were investigating a suspected crime, but declined to offer any further information.
According to unconfirmed reports in the Aftonbladet newspaper, the girl was injured in a knife attack.
Multiple police patrols were on the scene on Monday as officers cordoned off a large area of the Furutorp park.
Police spokesperson Jakob Palmgren declined to comment on whether any suspects had been detained, but stated that there was no danger to the general public.
"We are dealing with a suspected crime; I can't say more than that at this stage," he told the TT newswire.
Local newspaper Helsingborgs Dagblad spoke to witnesses at the scene who reported hearing screams from the park and seeing an injured girl.
According to unconfirmed reports from Aftonbladet, the suspect is a boy aged under 15.
Swedish vocabulary: a violent incident – en våldsam händelse
Firefighters battle blazes in southern Sweden as dry weather takes toll
Several forest fires broke out across southern Sweden on Monday. Whle a blaze outside Boxholm has now been contained, emergency services expect to spend several days tackling a fire south of Hultsfred.
The fire south of Boxholm started on Monday afternoon. Water-bombing aircraft were deployed which proved highly effective. Emergency services were to remain onsite overnight between Monday and Tuesday to ensure the fire did not flare up again.
The fire outside Hultsfred started on Sunday and spread across 10 hectares. By late evening, firefighters had brought the blaze under control, assisted by water-bombing helicopters.
Emergency services are now also working alongside local landowners to handle damping-down operations and monitoring.
"They will probably remain onsite for another four to five days," duty officer Ulf Bowein told TT.
Swedish vocabulary: damping-down operations – eftersläckning
Nine people to hospital after crash in western Sweden
Nine people were taken to hospital following a collision between a bus and a truck on the E6 motorway in Stenungsund in western Sweden.
"As far as I understand, the bus had pulled over to the side of the road when it was hit by a truck," police spokesperson Fredrik Svedemyr told TT.
The incident occurred at around 6.45pm on the E6 near the Stenungsund junction, and emergency services, ambulances and police were called to the scene. On their website, police initially stated that six people were taken to hospital, two of whom were seriously injured.
Later in the evening, local media reported that the emergency medical services had updated the figure to a total of nine people taken to hospital.
The truck driver has been arrested on suspicion of gross negligence in traffic.
The accident caused major traffic disruptions on the busy motorway, according to the Swedish Transport Administration.
Swedish vocabulary: negligence in traffic / reckless driving – vårdslöshet i trafik