Leaked Ericsson results deepen mobile gloom

More problems for troubled handset giant...

Ericsson's quarterly results have been leaked ahead of schedule, and the news isn't good. Losses for the three months ending 30 September have risen to SKr5.8bn (£385.6m), higher than the SKr4.5bn (£298.5m) predicted. The loss compares with a profit of SKr4.1bn (£272m) for the same period last year. Handset sales were down 42 per cent compared to the corresponding three months in 2000. The Swedish company, which recently signed a joint venture with Sony to manufacture handsets, has also replaced chairman and former CEO Lars Ramqvist with current Electrolux chairman Treschow. The company has cut over 22,000 jobs in the last year and warned that the market is unlikely to improve in the next 12 months