net profit the telecomequipment maker posted a net profit attributable to shareholders of 521 billion swedish kronor 4644 million compared with sek575 billion a year earlier a consensus provided by factset had been looking for sek57 billion revenue sales rose 21 to sek6804 billion against the sek6639 billion expected in a factset poll 5g progress overall sales of network equipment grew by 19 on the year with growth driven primarily by north america southeast asia oceania india and the middle east and africa also reported doubledigit growth ericsson said that after record operator capex in 2022 in north america spending is expected to hold up well in 2023 albeit at a lower level than in 2022 initial adjustment to lower levels in north america is expected in 4q this year it said however revenue from market share gains are expected to accelerate during 4q compensating for potentially lower sales in north america it added margins the networks gross margin fell to 444 from 478 while the ebit margin slipped to 199 from 237 as revenue from intellectual property dropped 40 on the year margins were weighed by the lower licensing revenue with several expiring patent license agreements pending renewal the company said increased component costs and investments in supplychain resilience also negatively affected the margin with the component costs and inflation continuing to weigh on margins in the coming quarters it added the 3q group gross margin fell to 414 from 440 and the ebit margin fell to 105 from 157 in the current inflationary environment we are making pricing adjustments as well as leveraging product substitution to manage margins chief executive borje ekholm said governance ericsson said it continues to engage with the us justice department and the securities and exchange commission in relation to the 2019 iraq investigation report and the deferred prosecution agreement breach notices and is fully committed to cooperating with government authorities market outlook ericsson uses delloro for its market outlook and confirmed that the global radio access network equipment market is set for growth of 5 in 2022 with north america growing by 12 europe by 1 and mainland china by 4 we are dedicated to our longterm target of ebita margin of 1518 no later than 2024 and we will take out costs to secure delivery of this target mr ekholm said in order to deliver on the cost reductions we expect restructuring costs to increase and be more in line with our longterm guidance of 1 of net sales albeit varying by quarter