Alcatel warns severely punished the stock market

The telecoms equipment maker Alcatel-Lucent has issued a warning Friday on its profitability for 2011, considered the stock market as a serious missed when the group enters the final stretch of its three-year plan for recovery.

A few months before the deadline he had set to become a business "normal" - growing, profitable and generating cash - the Franco-American group said suffer from economic downturn and the reluctance of European telecom operators to invest in their networks.

"Alcatel moves further away from what might be called a business 'normal'," said Thomas Langer of WestLB, while many analysts say they expect changes in estimates following the release, which should influence the consensus for 2011 and 2012.

At 2:10 p.m., the action Alcatel-Lucent accused the largest decrease in the CAC 40 index, falling 15.3% to euro 1.7 03 and recording session in his most well-Week Low. The title gives 22% since the beginning of the year.

After a quarter considered low, in which the group has once again engulfed a portion of its cash, Alcatel has revised its target operating margin adjusted to about 4% for 2011 and pledged additional measures to reduce costs in 2012.

"Given the uncertain economic climate, we will take more drastic action," said the CEO, Ben Verwaayen, who expects 500 million euros in additional savings. "You will see us take further action on costs and on cash."

THE CASH, "MAIN PRIORITY"

The telecoms equipment resulting from the merger in 2006 between Alcatel and Lucent has postponed by one year its ambition to achieve a positive cash flow, content now to build 2011 on "a level similar to that of last year or slightly better "