Ericsson

And welcome to today's presentation of the first quarter in 2023. With me today here in the studio, I have Carl Melander, our chief financial officer. And with me on a link from North America, I have Börje Ekholm, our president and CEO. So as usual, we will start this session with a presentation and then we will end the hour with a Q&A session. Then in order to ask questions, you have to join this conference by phone. Details on that can be found in today's press release as well as on our website ericsson.com slash investors. Please also be advised that today's conference call is recorded. Before handing over to Börje and Carl, I would like to say the following. During today's presentation, we will be making forward-looking statements. These statements are based on our current expectations and certain planning assumptions, which are subject to risk and uncertainties that actually results may difference material due to factor mentioned in today's press release and discussed in this conference call. We encourage you all to read about this risk and uncertainties in the earnings report published today, as well as in our annual report. With that, I would like to hand over to you, Börje.

So please, Börje. Okay. Thank you, Peter. And good morning, everyone. And a big thank you for joining us today. So we're excited to present a quarter in which we're executing on our strategy and we're making progress on our strategic goals. while at the same time delivering on what we set out as expectations for this first quarter. But before I go into the quarterly results, let me take this opportunity to just comment a bit on the news that we sent out last night. After having been almost seven years on Ericsson's executive team and 25 years with Ericsson, Carl will actually be leaving our company. And it's no exaggeration to say that Carl has been critical in the turnaround of Ericsson and in laying the foundation for the next chapter of our strategy. And he's also been a great colleague and of course a great friend. Now we have come to a mutual agreement that it's a good time, or as good as any, for a change at Ericsson as we continue and call it the next chapter in our strategic journey. But I'm, of course, very happy that he will stay on in his role until the end of Q1 next year. And, of course, that will ensure that we can execute on our cost savings, but also a smooth transition. So really, a big thank you to Carl for all his achievements and contributions here at Ericsson. You will be truly missed, not only by me, but all my colleagues at Ericsson. So big thank you. And anything, Carl, at this point you would like to comment on?

Thanks a lot, Börje, and thanks. Very kind words also. As you said, I mean, there's not really a good time to leave a fantastic company like Ericsson or a position like the one I've had there. privilege of having now for almost seven years but we find it's it's the right time now and let's see what the future brings it's been an incredible journey and a fantastic privilege to work with all the great people in Ericsson and and of course outside our company with partners customers and the investors and analysts as well on this call so thanks all but luckily I will be here for almost another year so we shall see each other again thank you Brian yeah