Alcatel-Lucent boosts Q4 profitability year-on-year

Alcatel-Lucent has reported a Q414 profit attributable to equity holders of €271 million (US$307 million), more than doubled from €134 million a year earlier. Revenue of €3.68 billion was down six per cent on a comparable basis.

Q4 revenue excluding Managed Services declined three per cent year-on-year. At constant currency, revenue excluding Managed Services increased two per cent year-on-year.

Managed Services revenue halved to €96 million, reflecting the termination or restructuring of loss-making contracts.

CEO Michel Combes said that Alcatel-Lucent is “in a strong position to capitalise on profitable growth opportunities and will focus on operational excellence and quality of service.”

The bottom line improvement was said to reflect lower financial expenses and higher income tax benefits partially offset by higher restructuring expenses.

Q4 sales of wireless access products decreased nine per cent year-on-year to €1.21 billion, with sales driven by LTE capacity projects in the US and TD-LTE projects in China, “but at a more moderate pace compared with the first half of 2014,” said Combes.

The company also continued to diversify its LTE customer base, with 11 new wins in the fourth quarter, including AINMT in Scandinavia, and expanded its small cell presence, signing three new customers to take its total to 76.

The company improved profitability in its Core Networking segment, increasing to €288 million from €258 million on revenue that increased one per cent to €1.8 billion.

For the full-year, Alcatel-Lucent reported a loss of €118 million, compared with €1.3 billion in 2013, on revenue of €13.18 billion, down three per cent.

Excluding Managed Services, revenue was flat for the year. Profit was impacted by reduced financial expenses and higher income tax benefits in 2014, as well as an impairment charge in the prior-year period.

Full-year wireless revenue increased by four per cent to €4.69 billion.