Lucent cuts losses on lower revenues

Lucent posted second quarter results which showed revenues had fallen 40% from earnings in the same quarter a year ago, with US revenues up but international sales down.

The company posted a net loss of $495m (€558m) - 14 cents per share - 3 cents better than analysts had forecast.

In Q2, 2001 the company posted a net loss of $3.7bn (€4.17bn), or $1.09 a share.

The company's worldwide workforce has been cut from 123,000 in January 2001 to 56,000 at the end of last month.

Lucent expects to cut its workforce further to 50,000 by September of this year.

While the company said that there was light at the end of the tunnel it did not forecast when it expected to break even.

It recently won a three-year contract to supply telecom provider Verizon Communications with its Metropolis optical networking system which should bring in hundreds of millions of dollars.