Alcatel-Lucent getting into shape

Monster telecoms vendor Alcatel-Lucent appeared to be in better shape Thursday, shrinking its third quarter net loss to Eur38m, compared to a loss of Eur318m in the same period last year.

Revenues dropped 6.6 per cent to Eur4bn, compared to Eur4.3bn last year, as carrier equipment sales fell.

The company’s Carrier division reported revenues down 13 per cent year on year to Eur2.7bn, while the Enterprise unit sales were up 2.2 per cent to Eur288m and Services revenues were up 12 per cent to Eur870m.

Newly installed CEO Ben Verwaayen, said, “In addition to the ongoing CDMA decline, we saw a reduction in spending by certain customers in developed markets, especially in fixed access and terrestrial optics. This was partly offset, however, by the strong performance of certain carrier activities, including W-CDMA, NGN and submarine networks.”

But the CEO admitted that “profitability remains unsatisfactory.” One of the options Verwaayen is looking at is offloading its 20.8 per cent stake in French defence firm, Thales. “Alcatel-Lucent believes that it is possible to maintain its ongoing partnerships with Thales without necessarily having any capital tie,” said Verwaayen.