PARIS-Alcatel Corp.’s shares fell on its fourth-quarter results, although the company’s mobile business experienced a surge.
However, the company reported its first full-year profit in three years with $365 million, in contrast to a loss of $2.5 billion in 2003. 2004 sales were up 10.7 percent to $4.92 billion, compared with sales the previous year of $4.5 billion.
Income from operations also jumped 10.3 percent to $509.5 million from the previous year.
For the quarter, net income stood at a paltry $51 million, although it suffered a loss of $679.3 million in the year-ago quarter. But in its mobile business, revenue leaped 27.2 percent to $1.38 billion from $1.09 billion in the year-ago period. Income from operations in the quarter totaled $180.2 million-a 12.9-percent return on sales.
The company said its wireless business benefited from strong growth in emerging markets like Russia, Brazil, Algeria, Nigeria and Thailand.
“In terms of business, we expect a positive inflection in fixed communications by mid-year, with our sales fueled by the triple-play momentum, a continuation of our growth in mobile communications, due to our good positioning in emerging markets, and significant progress to be achieved in vertical markets for our private communications group,” said Alcatel Chief Executive Officer Derge Tchuruk.
