Lucent Technologies yesterday reported increased revenue and increased profit for its fourth quarter and fiscal year, driven, it said, by the rapidly growing areas of optical networking, wireless networking, data networking and professional services.
The telecommunication and networking equipment maker will reorganise into four core businesses in order to focus on those high-growth areas and to help it grow more rapidly in international markets, the company said in a statement issued yesterday.
For the fourth quarter ended September 30, the telecommunication and networking equipment maker's net profit, before extraordinary items, shot up 50 percent to $US948 million or 30 cents per share, Lucent said in a separate statement issued yesterday. This compares to net income of $647 million in the fourth quarter last year.
Lucent's revenue for the quarter was $10.6 billion, up 23 percent from $8.6 billion the year earlier.
For the fiscal year ended September 30, Lucent's net income increased 46 percent to $3.8 billion or $1.22 per share, up from $2.6 billion and 86 cents per share the year earlier. The company's revenues for the fiscal year increased 20 percent to reach $38.3 billion, up from $31.8 billion last year.
The earnings were in line with analysts' expectations of 29 cents per share for the quarter and $1.20 for the fiscal year, according to First Call/Thompson Financial.
Lucent's sales outside of its home market in the US grew 38 percent in the quarter and accounted for 32 percent of its overall revenue, the company said.
Saying that it wants to focus on those rapid-growth areas responsible for much of its recent success, Lucent outlined its new organisation that will comprise four core businesses. These units include Service Provider Networks, Enterprise Networks, NetCare Professional Services and Microelectronics and Communications Technologies.