PARIS-Alcatel Corp. did not unveil a quarter of bonanza profits like some of the big vendors, but the French gear maker narrowed its loss. In its mobile business, however, the picture was sunnier.
The company suffered a loss of $660 million, or 49 cents per share, compared with $1.41 billion in the year-ago period, or $1.17 per share.
The company hopes to break even in the first quarter of this year.
“The growth should gradually accelerate during the year following a seasonally low first quarter, which is expected to be almost flat year over year, at a constant exchange rate,” said Serge Tchuruk.
“In wireless networks, our 2003 sales once more withstood the market decline, particularly when measured in Euro terms, and we see a similar outlook for 2004 with our market share continuing to grow with our 3G business gaining traction.”
The company said its second-generation, 2.5G and 3G activities grew with 1,500 node base station deployments for the quarter. Income from operations grew 11.2 percent on sales of $153.8 million compared with the previous quarter of $99.6 million.
The company said it expects its mobile-phone sales to grow this year, adding it expects to make a major partner announcement later in the year.
On the whole, the company had fourth-quarter sales of $4.6 billion, a 29-percent rise over the previous quarter of $3.6 billion.
