Alcatel-Lucent Posts Fifth Straight Loss

Alcatel-Lucent Posts Fifth Straight Loss

Alcatel-Lucent reported a fifth straight quarterly loss on Wednesday and braced investors for a bleak year, saying the market for telecommunication equipment would be flat.

The company said it lost 181 million euros ($282 million) compared with a loss of 8 million euros a year earlier, when results were helped by an asset sale.

Revenue fell to 3.86 billion euros ($6.02 billion) from 3.88 billion euros a year earlier. For the full year, Alcatel-Lucent said it expected revenue to decline 2 to 5 percent because of the weak dollar and lower spending by telecommunication operators.

It scaled back its outlook, saying 2008 would be a flat market compared with February expectations of “flat to slightly up.”

The chief financial officer, Hubert de Pesquidoux, speaking on a conference call, blamed the worsening economic climate.

Stock in Alcatel-Lucent, which is based in Paris, fell 0.16 euro, or 4 percent, to 4.33 euros a share.