Telecoms equipment maker Alcatel unveiled a third-quarter net loss of €1.352 billion today, after a loss of €558 million a year ago, due to restructuring charges and provisions.
Finance director Mr Jean-Pierre Beaufret told a conference call the loss included €330 million in restructuring costs, €450 million in provisions to cover financial difficulties at its clients and a €310 million provision for depreciation of assets in its optics division.
Alcatel said it expected fourth-quarter sales to show double-digit growth versus the third quarter due to the traditional end-year spike in sales, and said it was confident it could return to profit at the operating level in 2003.
Alcatel, which warned last month that third-quarter sales would decline 15 per cent from the second quarter, is cutting tens of thousands of jobs in its struggle to return to profit as cash-strapped telecoms companies freeze spending on equipment.
Alcatel last month announced approximately 20,000 further job cuts on top of some 30,000 already earmarked for 2001 and 2002, a move that will slash its global workforce to 60,000 people by the end of 2003 from 83,000 at the end of 2001.
Shares in the company have shed 95 per cent of their value in two years and underperformed the DJ Stoxx European technology index by 76 per cent.