New losses at Alcatel-Lucent amid rehaul

PARIS (AP) Telecommunications equipment maker Alcatel-Lucent SA lost 200 million euros ($274,000) in the third quarter, including costs of restructuring efforts aimed at turning around the long-struggling company.

It's the latest in a series of losses for the France-based company, and compares with losses of 316 million euros in the same quarter in 2012.

Alcatel-Lucent in a statement Thursday attributed the latest loss to a financial charge and costs of restructuring, which includes thousands of job cuts, ending unprofitable contracts and focusing on newer technology.

Sales in the quarter were 3.67 billion euros, up from last year's third quarter sales of 3.6 billion euros. The company reported a stronger contribution from broadband and other internet activities, offsetting shrinking activity in older technology. It said sales growth was driven by North America, while sales fell in Latin America and Asia.

Alcatel-Lucent supplies companies such as AT&T, Verizon and France Telecom.

CEO Michel Combes, whose predecessor struggled to turn the company around and who recently warned the company could "disappear" if it's not overhauled, said it is continuing asset sales to focus on developing new broadband. "We are seeing the first positive signs of our new operating model in our day-to-day business," he said.

The company has lost money nearly every year since the 2006 merger of New Jersey's Lucent Technologies and France's Alcatel.