STOCKHOLM, July 21 — Shares in Electrolux tumbled yesterday after the Swedish home appliances maker reported it had swung to a loss in the second quarter and announced plans for major divestments.

Electrolux’s share price had dropped over 20 per cent when the Stockholm stock exchange closed yesterday.

The company posted a net loss of 648 million kronor (US$62.6 million) for the second quarter, compared to a net profit of 257 million kronor for the same period a year earlier.

It also reported a 3 per cent drop in net sales to 32.7 billion kronor.

Electrolux saw a boon during the pandemic as house-bound consumers turned their attention to refreshing their homes.

But the company was then hit with supply-chain disruptions and is now struggling to adapt to weaker demand.

In October last year, it announced it would cut 4,000 jobs worldwide but mainly in North America, representing 8 per cent of its workforce.

The company also announced yesterday it had started preparations for "a potential divestment of Zanussi and other non-core brands”.

"A divestment would include the production facilities in Egypt, which produce Zanussi-branded major appliances, and production facilities for water heaters in Egypt and South Africa,” Electrolux said in a statement.

It added that "together with continued sale of non-strategic real estate,” the total potential value of the assets was an estimated 10 billion kronor.

"In the current challenging macro environment, focus and strategic portfolio management are more important than ever... Further structural simplification and complexity reductions are also being evaluated,” Electrolux CEO Jonas Samuelson said in a statement. — AFP