TMCnet News
Lucent's revenues to fall short(Record, The (Hackensack, NJ) (KRT) Via Thomson Dialog NewsEdge) Jul. 11--Lucent Technologies warned Monday that it expects revenues for the third quarter of fiscal 2006 to fall below projections. The company blamed weak wireless sales in North America and decreased sales in China. For the quarter that ended June 30, revenues will be approximately $2.04 billion, down from $2.34 billion in the same quarter a year ago. The Murray Hill-based company said in April it expected annual revenues would fall short of last year's $9.44 billion. Earnings are expected to be 2 cents per share, compared with 7 cents per share in the same quarter a year ago when earnings were boosted by 2 cents per share due to favorable tax items and recovery of bad debt. "During the third quarter, our North American mobility business was adversely impacted by a slowdown in spending on some of our current-generation wireless solutions," said Lucent Technologies CEO Patricia Russo said in a statement released after the market closed. "Overall, our year-to-date results also have been affected to some extent by delays in spending that we believe are attributable to the consolidation efforts of certain customers," added Russo. "That said, we believe consolidation will lead to opportunities as service providers look to us to help them integrate their large, complex networks." The company will provide additional detail when it announces its quarterly results on July 26. In a separate release Monday, Lucent and Alcatel, which is purchasing the telecommunications gear maker, provided an update on the combination of the two businesses. The number of jobs cuts will be about 9,000, the companies said. They predicted about 8,800 job cuts worldwide when the $13.4 billion purchase was announced earlier this year. Lucent employs about 6,400 in New Jersey. The two companies said they are on track to complete the acquisition by the end of 2006. Shares of Lucent dropped in after-hours trading as investors absorbed news of the earnings warning. The stock closed down 3 cents to $2.34 before the announcement. |