Tags:
Journalism of Courage
Telecom equipment maker Alcatel-Lucent will focus on its high-growth fixed and mobile products and slim down via 1 billion euros in cost cuts by 2015 in a bid to reverse years of losses.
The new plan unveiled on Wednesday by Michel Combes,the companys new chief executive,will also include unspecified asset sales of above 1 billion and 2 billion euros in debt refinancing by 2015,followed by a further 2 billion in debt reduction that could include issuing new shares.
Alcatel-Lucent,which competes with Swedens Ericsson,Chinas Huawei and Nokia Siemens Networks,has been unable to post regular profits and generate cash since it was formed in a merger in 2006.
Combes,who used to run telecom giant Vodafones European businesses,is the third CEO to try to right the group.
Combes explained that the group would reposition itself as a specialist player by focusing research and marketing efforts on its high-growth internet protocol (IP) networking products and very high-speed broadband in fixed and mobile. These priority areas will get 85% of the companys R&D budget,while older,legacy products would be managed for cash.
The aim is for sales of IP products,which help direct data traffic inside telecom networks via specialised routers,to grow by roughly 15% to more than 7 billion euros by 2015,or about half of group sales.
Combes also wants to improve the operating margins on IP networking from their current level of 2.4% to at least 12.5% and make the firm free cash-flow positive by 2015.
To deliver on this strategic plan,we need to regain competitiveness that means having the right products,quality of execution,and lowering our costs to be similar to peers, Combes said on a conference call.
Alcatel-Lucent shares have risen 40% this year on hopes that Combes can turn around the Paris-based group.
But its market capitalisation has shrivelled to 3.2 billion euros ($4.3 billion) currently,far from its pre-merger levels of roughly $36 billion.
