Alcatel-Lucent CEO to step down amid losses and declining revenue

IDG News Service - Alcatel-Lucent reported a fourth-quarter loss of $1.81 billion and revenue declined by 1.3%, and that it has started hunting for a new CEO.

Current CEO Ben Verwaayen will step down as soon as a replacement is found, and will not seek re-election as a director, the company announced Thursday.

Chairman Philippe Camus said Verwaayen had "created one company out of two" following Alcatel's merger with Lucent Technologies, He "has recently seen through the completion of the stabilization of the company's balance sheet, enabling us to move forward with confidence," Camus added in a statement.

On a positive note, the company reported that sales rose by almost 14% in North America.

Competitors Ericsson and Nokia Siemens Networks benefitted to an even larger extent from strong sales in North America. Ericsson's revenue during the fourth quarter grew by 51% compared to the year-earlier period, thanks to continued mobile broadband investments and demand for services, and Nokia Siemens' revenue grew by 45%.

"Alcatel-Lucent isn't taking as much of that particular action as it could and should," said Sylvain Fabre, research director at Gartner.

All three vendors struggled in Europe.

Alcatel-Lucent's fastest-growing business line was network applications software, up 52.9%, followed by IP networking equipment, up 26.4%. Optical networking equipment sales, however, fell 22%, while enterprise networking continued its slow decline, down 3.7%.

It was a difficult year, especially the first six months of it, Verwaayen said during a conference call. Misjudging the beginning of the year was the biggest mistake he made during his tenure as CEO, Verwaayen said.

The company had announced a savings program, including plans to cut 5,000 jobs, after a net loss in the second quarter.

The company was taken off guard by the rapid move from CDMA to LTE in North America, a weakening GSM market in China, and the economic situation in Europe, Chief Financial Officer Paul Tufano said during the conference call.

Both Alcatel-Lucent and Nokia Siemens have struggled to compete after their respective mergers, but the latter has been more successful in turning around its fortunes, according to Fabre.

For example, Nokia Siemens passed Alcatel-Lucent to become the number two LTE vendor during the third quarter when measuring radio access network revenue, according to Dell'Oro Group. Huawei and Alcatel-Lucent shared the third spot, and Ericsson was on top, it said.

Nokia Siemens has made major cuts, shedding a number of business units to just focus on mobile broadband.

"Alcatel-Lucent hasn't gone through that process. It has instead cut bit by bit, so it doesn't hurt as much. It now has to make some drastic changes," Fabre said.

But Alcatel-Lucent is now planning to sell some of its units in the next 18 to 24 months.

Verwaayen cutting his losses and leaving is not good news for the company, according to Fabre. It is now going to have to start every discussion with some damage control, he said.