(Associated Press via NewsEdge) Telecom equipment maker Lucent Technologies, which is being acquired by France's Alcatel, reported that its fiscal fourth-quarter net income was just about flat as a small sales increase was offset by higher production costs.
For the quarter ended September 30, the Murray Hill-based company earned $371 million, or 7 US cents per share, compared with $372 million, also 7 US cents per share, during the same period a year ago.
Revenue rose 5% to $2.56 billion from $2.43 billion in the year-ago quarter.
Total US revenues rose 17% to $1.77 billion as sales of wireless communications products jumped 36% to $1.11 billion. Revenues for services increased nearly 5%, but declined in Lucent's other business segments.
Foreign sales dropped 14% to $789 million, mainly due to a 37% plunge in wireless product sales and much lower sales in the Asia-Pacific region.
Analysts polled by Thomson Financial were looking for earnings of 4 US cents per share on sales of $2.39 billion.
Chief executive Patricia Russo, who will be CEO of the new Alcatel-Lucent, told analysts during a conference call that Lucent is doing well in one key new technology: Internet protocol multimedia subsystem, or IMS.
'We now have contracts with 10 significant customers,' she said, including Cingular Wireless, the largest mobile operator in the US, and KPN, the Netherlands' largest service provider.
Six of those contracts were added during the last fiscal year.
For the full fiscal year, Lucent earned $527 million, or 11 US cents per share, down from $1.19 billion, or 24 US cents per share, in fiscal 2005. Sales fell 7% to $8.80 billion from $9.44 billion in the previous year.
Analysts were looking for earnings of 13 US cents per share on sales of $8.65 billion.
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