President and CEO Hans Stråberg's comments on the 2007 results

President and CEO Hans Stråberg's comments on the 2007 results

In 2007, we accelerated our on-going work of transforming Electrolux into a
leading consumer-oriented company. We are implementing our strategy for
developing innovative products, strengthening the Electrolux brand and cutting
costs in the long term through restructuring.

During the year, we launched a record number of new products worldwide. We
invested over SEK 2 billion in development of new products, an increase of 10%
over 2006. Investment in brands also rose in 2007, and we are approaching our
goal for this investment to correspond to 2% of Group sales. The Electrolux
brand has been strengthened, particularly in Europe. Our research shows that
many more consumers prefer the Electrolux brand than in last year. We also
continued our work on making production more competitive by relocating to
low-cost countries. We now have approximately 50% of our production in such
countries, which means that we are quickly approaching our goal of 60% by 2010.
In addition, we achieved organic growth of 4% in 2007, which is in line with our
target.

Except for the result for appliances in Europe, I can report that all our other
operations achieved higher income in 2007. In North America, sales rose by 2%
while the market declined by almost 6%. This is a fantastic effort by our people
in North America, which gives me great expectations for our launch under the
Electrolux brand during 2008.

The global operation in floor-care equipment had a successful year, with greater
market shares and improved profitability. This is a good example of the benefits
generated by offering innovative products to consumers. 

Our operation in Latin America reported the best performance ever, which is
another example of what can be achieved through a strategy of a strong brand,
exciting new products and low costs. In Australia, after a number of tough years
we reinforced our market position and achieved considerably higher
profitability. In addition, income was higher for our products for professional
kitchens and laundries, despite rising prices for raw materials and a weaker
dollar. 

However, the performance by Electrolux appliances in Europe was a
disappointment. As our new products were well-received by the market, our
average prices were higher in all product categories and virtually every
country, and the Electrolux brand was strengthened considerably, we had expected
a better financial outcome. The marketing campaign and the product launch were
the most comprehensive in our history. In order to deliver our products to
retailers according to plan, we were forced to prioritize time ahead of cost.
This meant that costs for many products were higher than the original targets.

We are working on solving these problems, and we are striving to get costs down
to the planned level during the second half of 2008. During the last two years,
we have been working hard to reduce complexity in the European appliances
operation.  As a result, we are now, among other things, initiating a
comprehensive program this spring to reduce the number of employees by about
400. This program will generate savings yearly of SEK 350-400 million, for a
cost amounting to approximately SEK 400 million that will affect results in the
first quarter of 2008. We are also going to implement a review of our
refrigerator production in Italy in the interest of making it more competitive. 

We see a great uncertainty about the global economic trend. It is very difficult
to forecast Electrolux operating income for 2008. We face a number of major
challenges. We have to cut costs for the products we sell in Europe. In North
America, we are going to launch a completely new and very impressive product
offering in the premium segment under the Electrolux brand. At the same time, we
are expecting a tough start in 2008 as launch costs in the US of about SEK 100
million and the cost for the reduction of employees in Europe amounting to
approximately SEK 400 million will impact the first quarter result negatively.

Provided that market demand for appliances in Europe shows a slow growth in 2008
and that market demand for appliances in North America shows a slightly negative
development, our outlook for 2008 is that operating income is expected to be
in-line with 2007, excluding items affecting comparability.

Stockholm, February 6, 2008

Hans Stråberg
President and Chief Executive Officer

Electrolux is a global leader in home appliances and appliances for professional
use, selling more than 40 million products to customers in 150 countries every
year. The company focuses on innovations that are thoughtfully designed, based
on extensive consumer insight, to meet the real needs of consumers and
professionals. Electrolux products include refrigerators, dishwashers, washing
machines, vacuum cleaners and cookers sold under esteemed brands such as
Electrolux, AEG-Electrolux, Zanussi, Eureka and Frigidaire. In 2006, Electrolux
had sales of SEK 104 billion and 56,000 employees. For more information, visit
http://www.electrolux.com/press.


The information in this Interim Report is that which Electrolux is required to
disclose under the Securities Market Act and/or the Financial Instruments
Trading Act. It was released for publication at 08.00 CET on February 6, 2008.