Ericsson posts bigger than expected fourth-quarter loss

STOCKHOLM (Reuters) - Mobile telecom equipment maker Ericsson reported a bigger-than-expected fourth-quarter operating loss on Wednesday and said it expected to see tangible results of a turnaround in 2018.

Sweden's Ericsson posted an operating loss of 19.8 billion crowns ($2.5 billion), compared to a 280 million loss a year earlier and a mean forecast for a 17.3 billion loss in a Reuters poll of analysts.

Previously announced impairments, mainly relating to goodwill in Ericsson's digital and media arms, of 14.2 billion crowns, weighed on profits.

Ericsson proposed a dividend of 1.00 crowns per share, unchanged from 2016 and in line with expectations.

($1 = 7.8646 Swedish crowns)

 

(Reporting by Helena Soderpalm and Olof Swahnberg, editing by Anna Ringstrom)