Shares in Swedish telecoms equipment maker Ericsson fell more than 10 per cent this morning.
The falls came after company, which employs 1,700 people in the Republic, reported larger fourth-quarter losses than expected and gave a weak outlook for the first quarter.
The world's largest supplier of mobile telephone networks reported a weaker-than-expected end to 2002 onand said first quarter sales could fall more than a third, threatening its full-year sales forecast.
The company repeated that demand for wireless telephone networks would be flat to down 10 per cent this year against 2002.
Ericsson also said that its first-quarter sales could be more than 30 per cent lower than in the fourth quarter, which analysts said undermined the full-year guidance.
Ericsson competitors Nokia and Motorola had given similar forecasts of the wireless market decline.
Since the start of 2002, Ericsson shares have lost more than 80 per cent, under-performing the DJ Stoxx European technology index by almost 60 per cent. But the shares more than doubled since October on hopes the firm was back on track.