The logo of the telecom equipment maker Alcatel-Lucent is seen on a desk telephone in Paris, April 14, 2015.
/Christian Hartmann
- Telecom equipment maker Alcatel-Lucent, which is set to be bought by larger rival Nokia, swung to a first-quarter net loss, hit by a slowdown in spending by key U.S. customers and the drag of lower-margin sales in China. Continued cost-cutting efforts and growth in its Internet routing products, which help telecom operators cope with heavy broadband traffic from online video, helped Alcatel-Lucent improve margins and slightly exceed analysts' expectations on profits, however.The group avoided the underperformance that marred first-quarter results at mobile market leader Ericsson and Alcatel-Lucent's soon-to-be buyer Nokia, leading to steep drops in their shares.Alcatel-Lucent first-quarter revenue rose 9 percent on a comparable basis to 3.24 billion euros ($3.68 billion), ahead of a company-provided consensus of 3.02 billion, while adjusted operating profit nearly doubled to 82 million euros compared with a consensus of 79 million, it said on Thursday.Although Alcatel-Lucent posted a net loss of 72 million euros, some measures of profitability improved because of cost cuts. The gross margin improved to 34.6 percent in the quarter from 32.3 percent a year ago, and the operating margin was 2.5 percent versus 1.1 percent. (Reporting by
Leila Abboud and Gwenaelle Barzic; Editing by
James Regan)
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