In the quarter, the company reported an operating income of €116 million, while the figures over the first nine months of the year showed a year-on-year improvement of more than €360 million.
The indebted company reported a gross margin improvement of nearly 5%, which it attributed to stronger IP routing, terrestrial optics and ultra-broadband access solutions.
The French vendor has also announced additional contracts in Europe, the US and Asia over the last 12 months, notably in the fixed-line and mobile fields.
Alcatel-Lucent announced its Shift Plan in June this year, designed to turn the company’s finances around, amid mixed reviews from industry experts.
Michael Combes was elected CEO of the French vendor earlier this year and despite enormous efforts towards improving and growing the business, in early October Combes warned that the company could disappear if things did not improve.
However, of the results, Combes said: “We are seeing the first positive signs of our new operating model in our day-to-day business and are encouraged by the substantial progress in the Shift Plan key metrics. Going forward, we remain fully focussed on execution to leverage the momentum we are building.”
The consequent rise in profit did not come without a price and the CEO’s earlier concerns followed Alcatel-Lucent’s announcement that it was cutting 10,000 jobs.
