4th quarter and full year 2011 results

Alcatel-Lucent delivers full-year 2011 results in line with guidance, strong Q4 2011 cash-flow generation and well positioned for a better year in 2012

• Free cash-flow of € 541 million in Q4 2011
• Significant sequential improvement to cash and costs position
• Higher margin and strong positive net cash position targeted for 2012
• Strategic decision to leverage the strength of Alcatel-Lucent’s patent portfolio

Key numbers for the fourth quarter 2011

• Revenues of Euro 4,256 million, up 9.5% sequentially and down 11.2% year-over-year at constant currency
• Adjusted² gross profit of Euro 1,514 million or 35.6% of revenues
• Adjusted² operating income¹ of Euro 316  million or 7.4% of revenues
• Published net profit of Euro 868 million or Euro 0.29 per share
• Operating cash-flow³ of Euro 863 million
• Net (debt)/cash of Euro (31) million as of December 31,2011

Key numbers for the year 2011

• Revenues of Euro 15,696 million, up 1.9% year-over-year at constant currency
• Adjusted² gross profit of Euro 5,646 million or 36.0% of revenues
• Adjusted² operating income¹ of Euro 610 million or 3.9% of revenues
• Published net profit of Euro 1,095 million or Euro 0.42 per share
• Operating cash-flow³ of Euro 979 million
• Net (debt)/cash of Euro (31) million as of December 31, 2011

All figures in this document include the Genesys business in order to provide meaningful comparable information, except the mentioned Published figures; all Published figures report Genesys in discontinued operations. In addition to the Published results and consistent with previous publications, Alcatel-Lucent is providing adjusted results which exclude the main non-cash impacts from PPA entries in relation to the Lucent business combination and report Genesys as continued operations. Operating cash-flow is defined as cash-flow after changes in working capital and before interest/tax paid, restructuring and pension & OPEB cash outlay.

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Paris, February 10, 2012 – Alcatel-Lucent (Euronext Paris and NYSE: ALU) announced today 2011 full year results in line with its guidance, and in the fourth quarter of 2011, a free cash-flow of €541 million and annualized fixed costs savings of €300 million.

Commenting on the results, Ben Verwaayen, CEO, Alcatel-Lucent said:  “I’m very pleased by the responsiveness of our company to adapt to a changing business environment. This has resulted in a significant improvement in free-cash-flow and an acceleration of cost-reduction actions.

“Overall, this concludes a second year of strong improvement in our results, and leads to the first positive full-year net results for Alcatel-Lucent since the merger. We have strengthened our financial flexibility with the Genesys divestment, while taking the strategic decision to realize the full value of our existing and future patent portfolio.”

Mr Verwaayen added: “We were operating in a challenging environment in 2011. Looking ahead, we target, in 2012, additional savings of €200m in fixed costs and €300m in variable costs. We will continue to strengthen our portfolio, drawing upon an innovation pipeline of software assets and breakthroughs in wireless and fixed-line technologies such as lightRadio, 100G coherent technology, IP and vectoring – innovations that enable operators to quickly adapt to the continuing explosion of data and content.

“Although visibility remains limited, our aim for 2012 is to achieve an adjusted operating margin higher than the level reached in 2011, and reach a strong positive net cash position at the end of 2012.”

MAIN POINTS

Fourth quarter revenue decreased 12.5% year-over-year and increased 12.1% sequentially to
Euro 4,256 million. At constant currency exchange rates and perimeter, revenue decreased 11.2% year-over-year and increased 9.5% sequentially. Networks saw a double digit decrease this quarter. Within that segment, the IP business while declining at a low double digit rate due to a high comparison base, recorded the second highest quarter in revenues ever. The slight growth in submarine activity was more than offset by the decline in terrestrial optics. In the wireline business, the strong sequential catch up has been driven by all the product lines. The double digit decline in Wireless activities mainly results from lower spending after several quarters of strong activity. Software, Services & Solutions decreased at a mid-single digit rate with high single digit growth in Managed Services. Finally, Enterprise segment was flat this quarter, data posting another quarter of growth. From a geographic standpoint, also adjusted for constant currency, there was a weaker fourth quarter in North America after several strong previous quarters. Central and Latin America maintained a double digit growth rate while Europe and Asia Pacific regions declined at a double digit rate.

Adjusted² operating¹ income of Euro 316 million or 7.4%of revenue. Gross margin came in at 35.6% of revenue for the quarter, compared to 36.2% in the year ago quarter and 36.3% in the third quarter 2011. The year-over-year decline in gross margin mainly results from geographical & product mix, somewhat compensated by a decrease in fixed operating costs. The sequential decline in gross margin mainly results from geographical & product mix. Operating expenses decreased 12.3% year-over-year on a reported basis and adjusted for constant currency, decreased 12.7% year-over-year. This decrease is a further result of our actions to improve operational efficiency. On a sequential basis, operating expenses decreased 0.7% as reported and decreased 3.2% at constant currency reflecting the back-end loaded nature of our 2011 costs savings program.

Published net income (group share) of Euro 868 million or Euro 0.29 per share. This includes an Euro 353 million benefit associated with the increase of the deferred tax assets in the USA and Purchase Price Adjustments to Euro (69) million pre-tax or Euro (42) million after tax.

Net (debt)/cash of Euro (31)million, versus Euro (620) million of net debt as of September 30, 2011.The sequential decrease in net debt of Euro 589 million primarily reflects the positive operating cash-flow of Euro 863 million, interest expenses of Euro (10) million, restructuring cash outlays of Euro (84) million, contribution to pensions and OPEB of Euro (45) million and capital expenditures of Euro (167) million. The positive operating cash-flow results from the level of adjusted operating income and a positive contribution from the operating working capital requirements of Euro 278 million.

Excluding Genesys business, net debt is Euro (40) million as of December 31, 2011, as presented in the reconciliation table in page 12 and following.

Funded status of Pensions and OPEB of Euro (1,830) million at end of December, compared to Euro (1,213) million as of September 30, 2011. Excluding currency impact, this deficit widening mainly results from an increase of our obligations of Euro 1,019 million, due to the decrease of around 25 bps in the discount rates used for pensions and post-retirement healthcare plans. This was partly offset by an increase of the fair value of the plan assets for Euro 716 million. The net effect of currency change was negligible on the funded status this quarter. From a regulatory perspective – which determines the funding requirements – the preliminary assessment of the company’s US plans suggest that no extra funding contribution should be required through at least early 2014.

 

On Feb. 1, 2012, the closing of Genesys business disposal for USD 1.5 Bn has been announced.

The board has recommended not to pay a dividend for fiscal year 2011.

PUBLISHED RESULTS

Note: all published figures report Genesys in discontinued operations as it is published in the Consolidated Financial Statements available on our website http://www.alcatel-lucent.com/4q2011.

In the fourth quarter, the published net income (group share) was Euro 868 million or Euro 0.29 per diluted share (USD 0.38 per ADS) including the negative after tax impact from Purchase Price Allocation entries of Euro (42) million.

ADJUSTED RESULTS

In addition to the published results, Alcatel-Lucent is providing adjusted results in order to provide meaningful comparable information, which exclude the main non-cash impacts from Purchase Price Allocation (PPA) entries in relation to the Lucent business combination and report Genesys as continued operations. Reconciliation table are presented in table page 12 and following. The fourth quarter 2011 adjusted² net profit (group share) was Euro 572 million or Euro 0.19 per diluted share (USD 0.25 per ADS), which includes a restructuring charge of Euro (65) million, a net financial gain of Euro 34 million, an adjusted tax gain of Euro 292 million and a non controlling interests charge of Euro (4) million.

BUSINESS COMMENTARY

NETWORKS

For the fourth quarter 2011, revenues for the Networks segment were Euro 2,476  million, a decrease of -16.1% compared to Euro 2,952 million in the year-ago quarter and an increase of 8.4%  compared to Euro
2,285 million in the third quarter 2011. At constant currency exchange rates, Networks revenues decreased 16.8% year-over-year and increased 5.5% sequentially. The segment posted an adjusted² operating¹ profit of Euro 82 million or an operating margin of 3.3% compared to an adjusted² operating¹ profit of Euro 229 million or a margin of 7.8% in the year ago period.

Key highlights:

• Revenues for the IP division were Euro 454 million, a 10.6% decrease from the year-ago quarter with Europe being the main driver behind the year-over-year weakness.  However, this still represented our second highest quarter of revenue ever in the IP division, growing 20.7% sequentially, with double-digit growth across all regions, led by Europe which grew more than 30%. As we exited 2011, our IP division saw a very healthy book-to-bill ratio.  Full-year revenue for the IP division increased 9.9%, at constant currency, in 2011, with a 10%+ increase in service routing. During the fourth quarter, we were selected by Bouygues Telecom, in France, to deploy an IP-based network to support video, high-speed internet access and voice services to customers.  Our momentum in high performance IP networking continued, with 25 customers having deployed 100 Gigabit Ethernet on their service routers by year-end.   We also expanded the multi-service capabilities of our IP offering capabilities with the integration of Arbor’s Threat Management System (TMS) software into our IP routers to address the growing threat of “distributed denial-of-service” (DDoS) attacks.
• Revenues for the Optics division were Euro 724 million, a decrease of 11.2% from the year-ago quarter, driven by a double-digit decrease in our terrestrial business, partially offset by mid-single-digit growth in our submarine business. Sequentially, revenues in our optics division grew 24.4% with double-digit growth across most of our portfolio, led by WDM, which saw very strong quarter-over quarter growth in all regions, led by the Americas and Europe.  Full year optics revenues were down 2.1% year-over-year at constant currency, with our terrestrial business declining slightly, while our submarine business grew at a mid-single-digit rate driven by new builds and upgrades. Our single-carrier 100G optical coherent technology continued its success in the market with wins at France Telecom-Orange, Sky in the UK, Cablevision Argentina, H3G in Austria and Oni Communications in Portugal, bringing the total number of customers currently deploying 100G optics to more than 50.  We also announced the 100G eXtended Reach (XR) card, to be offered in our 1830 Photonic Service Switch (PSS) that is capable of extending the range, performance and capacity of 100G optical networks.  In the submarine business, Alcatel-Lucent and Bezeq International commercially launched a submarine cable link between Israel and Italy that can operate at 100 gigabits-per-second speeds.
• Revenues for the Wireless division were Euro 893 million, a decrease of 22.8% from the year-ago quarter. We saw weakness across most parts of this business after several quarters of strong activity, with the exception of small/femto cells as well as GSM in APAC.  Sequentially, growth was fairly strong in Europe and APAC, with both regions growing in the double digits, driven by GSM and small cells as well as W-CDMA in APAC.  This growth was more than offset by weakness in the Americas as spending slowed down towards the end of the year.  Full-year wireless revenues increased 4.6% at constant currency, with CDMA and LTE driving a majority of this growth.   In the fourth quarter, we continued our success in 4G LTE, announcing wins with Saudi Telecom Company (STC) as well as Antel in Uruguay, complementing the already announced wins with Etisalat and the City of Charlotte in 2011, bringing our total to more than 20 LTE contracts.   We were also chosen by Asia Pacific Telecom to deploy a 3G mobile broadband network based around CDMA-EVDO and IP Multimedia Subsystem (IMS) technologies. Our lightRadio portfolio is now in trials with operators in the Americas and EMEA, with both LTE and W-CDMA metrocells deployed in live networks and more than 5 operators participating in Alcatel-Lucent’s lightRadio co-creation program.
• Revenues in the Wireline division declined 14.1% from their year-ago level, to Euro 419 million. We did, however, see a strong sequential increase of 36.0%.  The year-over-year decline in Wireline was driven by our legacy businesses, partially offset by strong overall growth in APAC. Our fiber access portfolio continued to show strength, growing in excess of 80%, mainly driven by GPON growth in the APAC and Americas regions.  Full year wireline revenue fell 7.9% at constant currency as strong double-digit growth in broadband access equipment was not enough to offset double-digit declines in our legacy businesses.  In the fourth quarter, we were selected as the largest supplier for China Unicom’s expansion of its broadband access network based on GPON technology in 29 provinces.
• Sales of our next-generation Networks products decreased 11% from the year-ago quarter but increased 19% compared to the prior quarter at constant currency, reaching Euro 1,193million in the fourth quarter 2011.  This accounts for 48% of Networks sales. Orders for our next-generation products increased in the double digits compared to the year-ago quarter in Q4’11.
• The decline in adjusted operating margin from the year-ago quarter was largely due to lower revenues across all businesses.

S3 (Software, Services and Solutions)

For the fourth quarter 2011, revenues for the S3 segment were Euro 1,315  million, a decrease of 5.5% compared to Euro 1,391 million in the year-ago quarter and an increase of 19.5% compared to Euro 1,100 million in the third quarter 2011. At constant currency exchange rates, S3 revenues decreased 5.2% year-over-year and increased 17.9% sequentially. The segment posted an adjusted² operating¹ profit of Euro 170 million or 12.9%of revenues compared to an adjusted² operating¹ profit of Euro 98 million or a margin of 7.0% in the year ago quarter.

Key highlights:

• Revenues in our Services business were Euro 1,158 million, a 4.4% decrease compared to the year-ago quarter. Growth continued in our Managed Services business in the fourth quarter with revenues increasing at a high-single digit rate compared to the year-ago quarter.  Our Application services business, which focuses on software customization, increased at a double-digit rate in the fourth quarter driven by growth in Europe and North America. These areas of growth were offset by a double digit decline in our Network Build & Implementation (NBI) business driven by continued political unrest in the Middle East and Africa as well as project closeouts.  Services revenues in 2011 were flat, at constant currency, with strong growth in Managed and Outsourcing Solutions and NSI, as well as stable maintenance revenues, offset by declines in NBI.  In addition to the LTE contract announced with Saudi Telecom Company (STC), we also announced that this deal includes managed services of all sites that we will deploy to this customer.
• Network Applications revenues of Euro 157 million declined 12.8% from the year-ago quarter in the fourth quarter. The decrease was mainly due to the termination of a resale activity.  Motive, our remote customer management business grew at a double-digit rate in the fourth quarter. Building on our Motive brand, we recently launched an extended portfolio of software solutions and services, designed to help service providers improve the experience that consumers have with smartphones, tablets and other connected devices and are now currently deployed with more than 175 service providers around the world, supporting more than 180 million self-install/self-help end points.  Also in the fourth quarter, we announced a new solution, called CloudBand, which enables service providers to deliver networking services to their customers, from the cloud. We also featured, with Verizon Wireless, a number of mobile commerce applications over 4G LTE at this year’s Consumer Electronics Show (CES).For the full year, Network Applications revenues declined 3.6%, at constant currency, as a consequence of the termination of a resale activity more than offsetting double-digit growth in Motive and Unified Communications.
• The “Strategic Industries” end market (including transportation, energy, and the public sector) continued to be an area of opportunity for us, with a number of new wins.  During the quarter we were chosen, with Bechtel, a global engineering, construction and project management company, to deliver communications and security systems for the Chevron-operated Wheatstone Project in remote Western Australia.  We also collaborated with the Régie Autonome des Transports Parisiens (RATP Group) to provide a range of broadband communications services to improve security, safety and the passenger experience on Line 1 of the Paris Metro.
• The improvement in adjusted operating margin of our S3 business from the year-ago quarter mainly reflects the impact of ongoing actions to reduce expenses in our Services business and good improvement in the profitability of Network Applications.

Enterprise

Revenues in our Enterprise business increased 0.3% compared to the year-ago quarter, at Euro 325 million in the fourth quarter 2011and increased 1.9% compared to the third quarter 2011.  At constant currency exchange rates, our Enterprise business was flat compared to both the year-ago quarter and the previous quarter. The segment posted an adjusted² operating¹ profit of Euro 45 million or 13.8% of revenues compared to an adjusted²operating¹ profit of Euro 37 million or a margin of 11.4% in the year ago quarter.

Key highlights:

• Revenues from Enterprise Solutions increased at a low-single-digit rate at constant currency, driven by growth in data networks across all regions.Our voice telephony business declined slightly in the fourth quarter with economic uncertainties impacting the spending of small and medium sized businesses.  Full year Enterprise Solutions revenues increased at a low-single digit rate driven mainly by growth in data networks. In the fourth quarter, Slovenské Elekrárne, a subsidiary of Enel Group in Slovakia, chose us to enhance its communications and emergency broadcast system at its nuclear power plant, including our OmniPCX IP telephony solution.  During the quarter, we introduced a high-capacity 40 gigabit Ethernet (GigE) switching module for the OmniSwitch 6900 that increases data capacity, speed and performance of corporate data center networks. We also announced the HP and Alcatel-Lucent Data Center Network Connect, a jointly developed solution that integrates data center infrastructure technology and high-performance communications networks.
• Genesys, our customer contact center software business, declined at a low-single-digit rate primarily due to weakness in APAC.  On February 1, 2012, we announced the closure of the definitive agreement for the transfer of our Genesys business to Permira for a cash payment of US$ 1.5 billion.
• The adjusted operating margin of the Enterprise business benefitted from positive contributions from both the Enterprise Solutions and Genesys businesses as well as improvements driven by better mix and good fixed costs absorption compared to the year-ago quarter.

Alcatel-Lucent will host a press and analyst conference at its headquarters at 1:00 p.m. CET which can be followed through audio webcast at http://www.alcatel-lucent.com/4q2011

Notes

All published figures are currently being audited. All adjusted figures are unaudited. Consolidated Financial Statements available on our website http://www.alcatel-lucent.com/4q2011

1 – Operating income (loss) is the Income (loss) from operating activities before restructuring costs, impairment of assets, gain (loss) on disposals of consolidated entities, litigations and post-retirement benefit plan amendments.

2 – “Adjusted” refers to the fact that it excludes the main impacts from Lucent’s purchase price allocation and includes Genesys business in continued operations.

3 – “Operating cash-flow” is defined as cash-flow after changes in working capital and before interest/tax paid, restructuring cash outlay and pension & OPEB cash outlay

2012 Upcoming events

April 26, 2012: first quarter 2012 results

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