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WSJ UPDATE: Lucent Posts 1Q Loss After Legal Charge



By Sara Silver, Of THE WALL STREET JOURNAL

NEW YORK -(Dow Jones)- Lucent Technologies Inc. (LU) posted a $104 million fiscal first-quarter loss, its first quarterly loss since beginning its turnaround in 2003, after taking a large legal charge.

The Murray Hill, N.J.-based equipment maker also reported a sharp decline in sales. Its revenue for the quarter ended Dec. 31 were $2.05 billion, down from $ 2.43 billion during the same period last year.

Company officials said that an anticipated surge in demand from telecom carriers didn't materialize at the end of last year. "We did not see the capital flush we had seen in prior years," said Chief Executive Pat Russo in an interview.

Lucent said it was forced to take a $278 million charge against earnings by a bankruptcy court judgment against Lucent for dumping telecommunications equipment on the now-defunct Winstar Communications Inc. to meet sales targets. The judge ruled that Lucent had leverage over Winstar through generous vendor financing agreements. Lucent is appealing the judgment.

The company reported a first-quarter loss of $104 million, or 2 cents a share, compared with earnings of $174 million, or 4 cents per share, in the year-ago quarter and the prior quarter's earnings of $372 million, or 7 cents per share.

Lucent shares were trading flat at $2.50 in mid-morning trading on the New York Stock Exchange, unchanged from Monday's close. The company earlier this month had warned of a revenue shortfall and had already told investors it planned to take a legal charge of about $300 million.

"We obviously are disappointed in the revenues this quarter, but feel good about the work we've done to manage our costs and maintain solid gross margins," Russo said.

Sales were down across its four divisions from the prior quarter, ranging from 16% in multimedia network equipment to 9% in services deploying and maintaining networks, which the company sees as one of its most promising revenue drivers.

Sales within the U.S. declined 11%, and international sales were down 23% in part due to China's delays in issuing licenses to build third-generation telecommunications networks capable of transmitting voice, data and video.

Analysts were cautious about the company's prospects. "We still are neutral on the shares, since we value the company based on revenue growth and cash- generation capabilities and neither is an exciting story from our standpoint," said Nikos Theodosopoulos, telecom analyst with UBS Warburg.

Lucent used $550 million in cash during the quarter for incentive bonuses and working capital, leaving $4.38 billion on the balance sheet as of Dec. 31. The average number of days required to collect payments also stretched to 64 from 52 days, Theodosopoulos noted