Lucent Posts First Profitable Year Since 2000

Telecommunications equipment maker Lucent Technologies, rebounding from multibillion-dollar losses, reported a larger profit for its fourth fiscal quarter and recorded its first profitable year since 2000.

The Murray Hill, N.J.-based company had net income of $348 million, or 7 cents a share, for the three months ended Sept. 30, compared with earnings of $7 million, or 2 cents a share, after payment of preferred dividends a year ago.

The impact of several one-time items, including financing recoveries and charges related to the Telica acquisition, added a total of 3 cents a share to the results. Excluding those items, Lucent's results matched the 4 cents a share anticipated by analysts surveyed by Thomson First Call.

Revenue for the July-September quarter was $2.4 billion, up 19 percent from the $2.03 billion recorded in the year-ago period.

The results, announced Wednesday, marked Lucent's fifth consecutive profitable quarter -- following 13 quarters of losses -- and completed the company's fiscal year.For the year, Lucent had net income of $1.15 billion, or 25 cents a share, after payment of preferred dividends, compared with a net loss of $1.16 billion, or 29 cents a share, after such required payments in 2003.

The company had annual revenue of $9.05 billion, up 7 percent from to 2003 revenues of $8.47 billion.

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