Lucent finds little cheer in the results season

NEWS Despite better than expected results, troubled telecoms firm Lucent is still struggling to find its way to profitability. Lucent expects to see a 10 to 15 per cent rise in revenues and a bigger rise in profits next year, but that was the only glimmer of light on a gloomy balance sheet. For the first fiscal quarter the group reported a pro forma loss of $575m, or 23 cents per share, slightly better than analysts' estimates of 24 cents per share. Nonetheless, it's a considerable improvement on the same quarter last year, when the company lost 42 cents per share. The results exclude the fibre optics business, which Lucent sold during the quarter. Including fibre optics, the group lost $423m, despite a $523m gain from the sale of the business. Lucent cut its workforce by 15,000 in the previous quarter, and plans to reduce its staff count by another 15,000 to 20,000 in the next quarter.