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Technology Stocks : Alcatel (ALA) and France -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: zbyslaw owczarczyk who wrote (3389)	5/30/2001 6:50:15 AM
From: elmatador	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 3891

It was funny: a warning offsetting a collapse!

To: zbyslaw owczarczyk who wrote (3389)	5/30/2001 7:07:38 AM
From: elmatador	Respond to of 3891

Alcatel shares slip as investors digest warning By Raphael Minder in Paris, Caroline Daniel in London and Richard Waters in New York Published: May 29 2001 19:20GMT \| Last Updated: May 30 2001 10:58GMT (This is not funny, ZO!) Alcatel shares fell on Wednesday morning as concern about the French group's profitability offset initial enthusiasm triggered by the collapse of merger talks with Lucent Technologies. Late on Tuesday night, Alcatel issued a profit warning just hours after ending talks with Lucent as the French and US telecommunications equipment companies failed to agree on who would control a combined company. Alcatel said it expected to report a loss of about E3bn ($2.6bn) for the second quarter, because of a one-time charge of E3bn to cover the US slowdown and items such as uncertainty over a submarine contract for 360networks, the troubled Canadian telecoms operator. "They would have hidden this nasty charge under the covers of the Lucent deal but they finally had to come out with it," said Eric Burkel, technology analyst at Global Equities in Paris. "Despite the fact that Alcatel appeared to be better protected from the slowdown than some of its competitors, that has proven not to be the case." Alcatel shares were down 0.6 per cent at E30.67 in morning Paris trading, after initially rallying on news that the talks had been aborted. Henry Schacht, Lucent's chairman, walked out of talks after Serge Tchuruk, his counterpart at Alcatel, refused to give the US company equal weight in the new company's management. Following marathon talks over the weekend in Paris, executives at both companies had been hoping to conclude a deal on Wednesday, but late on Tuesday night the talks ended. Alcatel's shareholders had expressed support for the mergers' strategic logic, but questioned whether it was a deal too far for the French group. The twin announcements are likely to create strong pressure from investors for Mr Tchuruk to explain the timing of the profit warning. "This is the profit warning they should have made a month ago because a month ago they must have known just as much," said Emmanuel Morano, fund manager at Sogeposte, the asset management arm of the French post office, which holds about 4m shares in Alcatel. Alcatel and Lucent will hold a conference call at 0700 EDT to discuss the reasons for abandoning the merger. Cost savings from the merger had been estimated at about $4bn. However, one person close to the discussions played down the idea that these would have come from a steep round of job cuts. Instead, he said savings would have come from, "more efficient R&D spending, an up to 20 per cent reduction on SG&A, and rationalisation of computer systems". The collapse of the talks is set to renew uncertainty about the future of Lucent's fibre optic division, put up for sale earlier this year. Rival bidders, which include Pirelli of Italy, said on Tuesday they were still uncertain about whether the fibre optic division would be sold. As part of its profit warning, Alcatel also halved its growth forecast for Alcatel Optronics, saying it expected sales to rise between 20 and 25 per cent this year compared with the 50 per cent growth it had forecast as recently as April. Alcatel sold tracking shares in Optronics last October.

To: zbyslaw owczarczyk who wrote (3389)	5/30/2001 10:18:34 AM
From: Steve Fancy	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 3891

Not sure what 'ole Serge was thinking...LU on top of this...almost DSC communications relived. Bummer. Earnings revisions and downgrades on the way.I may sell some of my shares and double my '03 leap position. Steve

To: zbyslaw owczarczyk who wrote (3389)	5/30/2001 11:57:24 AM
From: larry pollock	Read Replies (3) \| Respond to of 3891

zo, no matter what kind of spin or twist you try to put on ALA, an earnings warning is an earnings warning, and you can't change that fact. ALA is trading at a 52-week low, and you can't change that either. ALA has gone from 86 to 25, and you can't change that either. Go ahead, keep spinning and twisting, ALA is in trouble, just like NT, just like CSCO. Your constant spinning and twisting will not change the fact that ALA is in trouble. ALA is trading at a 52-week low. I didn't do it, neither did anyone else here on this thread, contrary to what you believe. Lighten up, quit being so obsessed, and obnoxious.