Telecoms equipment maker Lucent Technologies today posted its 13th straight quarterly loss amid weak spending by telephone companies.
The company repeated it does not expect to return to profitability until sometime in its next fiscal year which begins in October. Last week, it abandoned plans to meet that target in its current fiscal year due to weakness in the wireless markets.
"This quarter, even customers who have been aggressively deploying networks slowed their spending," Lucent chairman and chief executive Ms Patricia Russo told analysts on a conference call. "Clearly, we hit a revenue speed bump."
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Given the market uncertainty, Lucent did not provide a forecast for the current fiscal fourth quarter.
The company's stock was off 9 cents, or 4.7 per cent, at $1.82 on the New York Stock Exchange. Sales fell 33 per cent to $1.96 billion from last year, and were down 18 per cent from the previous quarter.
Analysts said the company's costs remain too high and that job cuts down to around the 30,000-person level are necessary. Lucent has said it is targeting a work force of 35,000 by the end of September and said more costs will be cut, but has not said whether those plans include further job cuts.
Lucent employed 36,500 people at the end of June, down from 106,000 in January 2001, when it launched its restructuring.