Annual General Meeting og Telefonaktiebolaget L M Ericsson

Annual General Meeting of Telefonaktiebolaget L M Ericsson The Annual General Meeting of Telefonaktiebolaget LM Ericsson was held on Tuesday March 23, in Stockholm. The Company's and the Group's income statements and balance sheets were adopted and the Board of Directors and the President were discharged from liability for the fiscal year 1998. The Meeting approved a dividend of SEK 2.00 per share. Shareholders who are recorded in the share register on the record date, March 26, 1999, are entitled to receive dividend, which is expected to be paid on April 6, 1999. The Meeting also decided to change the Articles of Association due to provisions in the Swedish Company Act that came into force on January 1, 1999. The following Directors of the Board were re-elected; Tom Hedelius, Sverker Martin-Löf, Sven-Christer Nilsson, Lars-Eric Petersson, Lars Ramqvist, Clas Reuterskiöld, Peter Sutherland and Marcus Wallenberg. Bo Berggren and Sven Ågrup had declined re-election. Göran Lindahl was elected Director of the Board. At the statutory meeting of the Board of Directors following the Annual General Meeting, Lars Ramqvist was elected Chairman. Tom Hedelius and Marcus Wallenberg were elected Vice Chairmen. Carl-Eric Bohlin, Olof Herolf and Thomas Thiel were elected to serve as auditors. Ericsson's CEO Sven-Christer Nilsson said during his speech at the Annual General Meeting: "Ericsson is in an exciting period. 1999 is not a harvest year but a year in which we are preparing ourselves. And we are well positioned for the next phase of development. We recently presented an entirely new portfolio of mobile telephones. We are equipped to strengthen our position. Our technological leadership in 3G, which is the first generation of a true mobile Internet, is unchallenged. We have led this development. In connection with the annual results we announced an expectation of lower results for the first six months of 1999. I can confirm this and particularly in connection with the first quarter. The increase in sales has slowed at the same time as costs for restructuring have appeared. At the same time it is important to note that the first quarter is often a poor indicator for the balance of the year. This shift in technology and development will be as extensive for man as when the telephone became generally available. It involves the mobile Internet, an area in which Ericsson has unique strength. We are the world leader in mobility. We already have 6 test systems in operation and we received the first order in the world for a so-called packet-data GPRS. Our long-term goal in this 3G market is to post higher growth than the market as a whole. Accordingly, our objective is to grow by at least 20 percent." The complete speech will be found at http://www.ericsson.se/pressroom Media and analysts will hereby be invited to a conference call between 19.00- 19.30 hour Swedish time at phone number: Europe: +44 181 781 0577 North America: + 1 212 896 6172 There will be a replay of the conference call beginning one hour after the end of the call. It will be available for 24 hours. Replay numbers are: Europe: +44 181 288 4459, Access code: 601362 North America: +1 800 633 8284, Reservation: 12035922 Participants: Sven-Christer Nilsson, President and CEO Johan Fant, Corporate Controller, Senior Vice President Ericsson is the leading provider in the new telecoms world, with communications solutions that combine telecom and datacom technologies with freedom of mobility for the user. With more than 100,000 employees in 140 countries, Ericsson simplifies communications for its customers - network operators, service providers, enterprises and consumers - the world over. Please visit Ericsson's Press Room at: http://www.ericsson.se/pressroom FOR FURTHER INFORMATION, PLEASE CONTACT Pia Gideon, Director, Corporate Communications Phone: +46 8 719 2864, +46 70 519 2864