What was the EBITA margin for Ericsson in 2021-Q4 
, on the other hand, grew because we are investing in the 5G portfolio. So, you see growth by 2.6 billion year over year here. We invest in cloud-native, 5G portfolio in digital services. And in Networks, of course, in our 5G portfolio, plus the Cradlepoint acquisition, which also contributes here.
EBITA margin came out at 14.6%. And as you know, this is the metric we use for the long-term target. And as Borje now said, and this is an important piece of the report today, that we said that the long-term target is now going to be reached. That's our expectation and ambition within two, three years.
So, continuing down the P&L and the EBIT margin here, 32.3 billion, excluding restructuring, up from 29.1 billion. This is then an EBIT margin of 13.9%, which is just at the upper part of the range for the 2022 target, which thereby is reached one year early, as Borje said already. Also, a few comments on tax then. So, as now, our profitability grew.
We were also able to utilize a bit more of the tax assets we have, the withholding tax assets. And effective tax rate now came out at 21% compared actually with 35% in 2020. But there was a one-off benefit from impaired withholding tax assets that we were now able to utilize in the fourth quarter. So, if we add that back as a bit of a one-off, the effective tax rate would be at 25%, still down 10 percentage units then from 2020.
Earnings per share fully diluted 6.81. And I want to mention return also, return on capital employed came out at 18.4%, which is an increase from 17% last year. And both of these numbers include the cash position to the full extent, but we can also calculate excluding cash, and then ROCE would then have been 37%. So, let's move from P&L metrics into cash flow and look at how the earnings translated into free cash flow then.
First of all, on cash flow from operating activities increased to 15.2 billion in the quarter. And that led us to a full-year outcome of 39.1 billion, and this is about 10 billion better than 2020. We do put a lot of focus on working capital in our company end to end. And we have seen the curve improve overall this year since 2017.
And of course, this year, I can say the working capital was -- or this quarter, I should say, the working capital was helped by certain prepayments also by customers. And the other important factor that happened in working capital is really the increased investments in inventory levels to manage the supply situation. But on the other hand, that was offset at least partly by an increase in accounts payable during the quarter. So, if continued down this table, then you see the free cash flow of 13.5 billion.
And this is really the key metric for us, free cash flow before M&A. And that led us to a free cash flow before M&A for the full year of 32.1 billion, which is an increase of 10 billion from the year before. And that, in turn, was actually an increase of about 15 billion from the previous year 2019. And this translates for the full year into 13.8% free cash flow as a percentage of net sales.
And as you know, we have talked about the long-term target on this metric between 9% and 12%, so we clearly beat that target also in 2021. And on the back of this strong cash flow generated during the year and in the quarter, we managed to increase our net cash position with 10 billion. It now amounts to 65.8 billion, and the gross cash position is 97.6 billion, up around 26 billion if you compare with a year ago. And the majority of that increase comes from cash flow that we have generated in the business and a smaller part, say, about 2 billion comes from net activities from long-term debt.
And we have checked the history books of Ericsson, and so far, we haven't found a higher net cash position than the 65.8 billion in the history of the company. Vonage, mentioned already by Borje, expected to close now Q1 or Q2. And that's, as you know, a $6.2 billion acquisition. And now, of course, we have -- as we have continued to build up the cash position now compared with when we announced the acquisition, we are going to be ab
, on the other hand, grew because we are investing in the 5G portfolio. So, you see growth by 2.6 billion year over year here. We invest in cloud-native, 5G portfolio in digital services. And in Networks, of course, in our 5G portfolio, plus the Cradlepoint acquisition, which also contributes here.
EBITA margin came out at 14.6%. And as you know, this is the metric we use for the long-term target. And as Borje now said, and this is an important piece of the report today, that we said that the long-term target is now going to be reached. That's our expectation and ambition within two, three years.
So, continuing down the P&L and the EBIT margin here, 32.3 billion, excluding restructuring, up from 29.1 billion. This is then an EBIT margin of 13.9%, which is just at the upper part of the range for the 2022 target, which thereby is reached one year early, as Borje said already. Also, a few comments on tax then. So, as now, our profitability grew.
We were also able to utilize a bit more of the tax assets we have, the withholding tax assets. And effective tax rate now came out at 21% compared actually with 35% in 2020. But there was a one-off benefit from impaired withholding tax assets that we were now able to utilize in the fourth quarter. So, if we add that back as a bit of a one-off, the effective tax rate would be at 25%, still down 10 percentage units then from 2020.
Earnings per share fully diluted 6.81. And I want to mention return also, return on capital employed came out at 18.4%, which is an increase from 17% last year. And both of these numbers include the cash position to the full extent, but we can also calculate excluding cash, and then ROCE would then have been 37%. So, let's move from P&L metrics into cash flow and look at how the earnings translated into free cash flow then.
 First of all, on cash flow from operating activities increased to 15.2 billion in the quarter. And that led us to a full-year outcome of 39.1 billion, and this is about 10 billion better than 2020. We do put a lot of focus on working capital in our company end to end. And we have seen the curve improve overall this year since 2017.
And of course, this year, I can say the working capital was -- or this quarter, I should say, the working capital was helped by certain prepayments also by customers. And the other important factor that happened in working capital is really the increased investments in inventory levels to manage the supply situation. But on the other hand, that was offset at least partly by an increase in accounts payable during the quarter. So, if continued down this table, then you see the free cash flow of 13.5 billion.
And this is really the key metric for us, free cash flow before M&A. And that led us to a free cash flow before M&A for the full year of 32.1 billion, which is an increase of 10 billion from the year before. And that, in turn, was actually an increase of about 15 billion from the previous year 2019. And this translates for the full year into 13.8% free cash flow as a percentage of net sales.
And as you know, we have talked about the long-term target on this metric between 9% and 12%, so we clearly beat that target also in 2021. And on the back of this strong cash flow generated during the year and in the quarter, we managed to increase our net cash position with 10 billion. It now amounts to 65.8 billion, and the gross cash position is 97.6 billion, up around 26 billion if you compare with a year ago. And the majority of that increase comes from cash flow that we have generated in the business and a smaller part, say, about 2 billion comes from net activities from long-term debt.
 And we have checked the history books of Ericsson, and so far, we haven't found a higher net cash position than the 65.8 billion in the history of the company. Vonage, mentioned already by Borje, expected to close now Q1 or Q2. And that's, as you know, a $6.2 billion acquisition. And now, of course, we have -- as we have continued to build up the cash position now compared with when we announced the acquisition, we are going to be ab