Lucent lowers expectations for upcoming quarter

MURRAY HILL, N.J. - Lucent Technologies has lowered its revenue expectations for the second fiscal quarter, which will likely delay its return to profitability until 2003. <br> <br> The Murray Hill-based telecommunications equipment maker also announced Tuesday that it will push back the spinoff of the microelectronics business Agere Systems, but believes it could be completed in the fourth quarter. <br> <br> The spinoff was delayed due to &#34;continuing market softness,&#34; the company said in a prepared statement, but it remains &#34;fully committed&#34; to completing the spinoff as soon as possible. <br> <br> Lucent expects to see continued improvement in its bottom line when it announces its second quarter earnings on April 22, but it now believes that revenues will only show a &#34;modest&#34; to 10 percent growth. It had expected to see growth of 10 percent to 15 percent. <br> <br> &#34;The progress we are making with our restructuring program will enable us to deliver the fifth quarter in a row of sequential improvement in the bottom line,&#34; chief financial officer Frank D&#39;Amelio said. <br> <br> The consensus forecast of analysts surveyed by Thomson Financial/First Call was that Lucent would lose 14 cents a share in the second fiscal quarter after losing 23 cents a share in its first fiscal quarter. <br> <br> Even though market uncertainty will delay its return to profitability until next year, Lucent said it has sufficient liquidity to fund its operations. <br> <br> The company also continues to seek opportunities to raise additional capital to further strengthen its balance sheet and provide for more excess liquidity. <br> <br> ------ <br> <br> On the Net: <br> <br> http://www.lucent.com <br> <br>

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