President and CEO, Ericsson, Hans Vestberg

Ericsson announced a drop in income for the third quarter of 2012, as it continued to be impacted by lower profitability in its core Networks business.

In a statement, its President and CEO, Hans Vestberg, noted that although operating expenses are being reigned in and the company is seeing “steady improvements” in the execution of projects; these improvements are encouraging, but not enough and we will continue to proactively identify and execute additional efficiency gains and cost reductions”.

The company announced a net income of $326.8 million, down 42 percent from of its previous earnings. Ericsson said that demand for Global Services and Support Services “continued to be good”, while networks saw a decline in sales year-on-year.

In addition, its business mix has been impacted by a higher share of coverage and modernisation projects - rather than capacity expansions - in Europe, a situation that is “expected to prevail short-term”. The company also said that its ST-Ericsson joint venture was still in a challenging situation, although performance improved in the quarter.