Lucent reduces losses this autumn

NEWS Lucent Technologies has managed to reduce its losses by 24 per cent in its fourth quarter results today. The company has also promised it will return to profitability by 2002. Lucent reported revenues declining 28 per cent to $5.2bn for the quarter and improved its losses per share, from 35 cents to 27 cents. The telecoms equipment specialist noted that its results excluded a restructuring charge of $8bn for the quarter. In a statement, CEO Henry Schacht said: "We delivered continued improvement in the bottom line and a solid top line performance in the face of sharply reduced spending throughout the industry." The quarter has been a chequered one for Lucent, which sacked 500 UK workers earlier this month. The company also recently shut down newly acquired Israeli networking company Chromatis, even though it paid out $4.5bn only a year earlier. However, Lucent also celebrated some big contract wins, the most notable of which was a multi-million dollar deal with a subsidiary of France Telecom in September.