Alcatel denies claims of faulty accounting
By Raphael Minder in Paris
Published: February 15 2002 20:25 | Last Updated: February 15 2002 22:41
Alcatel, the French telecommunications equipment maker, denied on Friday claims of accounting irregularities made by Pierre Suard, its former chairman, which helped push its shares almost 7 per cent lower.
Mr Suard, who was forced to resign as chairman from what was then Alcatel Alsthom in March 1995 because of a judicial inquiry into the group's billing practices, suggested in an interview with newspaper Le Parisien that Alcatel had hidden annual losses of FF6bn(E915m, $796m) following his departure.
"Mr Suard's comments concerning Alcatel Alsthom's accounts in 1995 are unfounded," Alcatel said. "The questioning is prejudicial to the company, which reserves the right to defend its interests and those of its shareholders by all appropriate means."
Alcatel shares closed down 6.7 per cent at E16.06 on Friday. Traders attributed part of the fall to Mr Suard's comments, which came amid heightened concerns about corporate accounting methods following the collapse of Enron, the US energy group.
However, Alcatel shares have also suffered from continued worries about the health of the sector and whether the group could meet its earnings forecast, following disappointing results from US companies.
This week, Standard & Poor's, the credit rating agency, downgraded Alcatel's debt, arguing that it would be "a challenge" for Alcatel to stick to its first-quarter guidance.
Mr Suard released this week a book to give his account of his tenure at Alcatel Alsthom, a group which was subsequently split into two entities.
Mr Tchuruk, the current chief executive of Alcatel, took over from Mr Suard and has presided over a transformation which has seen Alcatel shed a collection of assets to focus on telecoms.
Mr Suard told Le Parisien that Alcatel had reported an average annual profit of FF6bn in the years after his departure, but would have registered an average annual loss of FF6bn if it had excluded exceptional items. He did not provide further details. |
