Nortel release
Northern Telecom 2nd-Qtr Profit Rises 37% on Increased Sales
Toronto, July 21 (Bloomberg) -- Northern Telecom Ltd.'s second-quarter profit rose 37 percent, exceeding expectations, on rising sales at North America's No. 2 phone-equipment maker.
Profit before gains and charges rose to US$215 million, or 41 cents a share, from US$157.3 million, or 30 cents, in the year- ago period. The company, which split its stock 2-for-1 on Jan. 7, was forecast to earn 40 cents a share by analysts surveyed by First Call Corp. Toronto-based Northern Telecom reports in U.S. dollars.
Revenue rose 9.8 percent to US$4.16 billion from US$3.79 billion amid strong demand for its wireless phone and high- capacity broadband equipment, which carries data and Internet traffic.
''Revenue increased across all our lines of business, with 28 percent growth in Broadband Networks,'' said John Roth, the company's president and chief executive.
In the latest quarter, the company took a pretax gain of US$34 million and charges totaling US$318 million, resulting in a loss of US$69 million, or 13 cents a share. In the year-earlier quarter, the company had a restructuring charge of 16 cents a share, and a gain of 17.5 cents from selling some of its distribution businesses, lifting earnings to US$169 million, or 31.5 cents.
Lucent Technologies Inc. of Murray Hill, New Jersey is North America's largest maker of phone equipment.
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