FINaNCIaLS
Alcatel Lucent waits for upturn
rESELLErS % month Mkt cap
Price (4) atio
in the combination of global business enterprises of the size and scope of
10.03.08 - 10.04.08
change 4
P/E r
m
historical Alcatel and Lucent have been more complex than expected. These
two factors, coupled with the continuing consolidation among both
Dolmen 11.70 -13 83 12
service providers and telecommunications equipment makers in 2007, have
Econocom 7.70 -6 199 11
created disruptions in market conditions.
Systemat 5.05 1 37 18
“Looking forward, we cannot give assurance that pricing conditions will
EDB Gruppen
improve in our industry and that we will not be affected by further delays in
17.42 -2 63 12
the execution of our integration and cost reduction plans. These two factors
Groupe Ares 2.63 20 39 -
could therefore negatively impact both our operations and our financial
results. Growth in the global telecommunications industry slowed in 2007, Bechtle 19.71 4 418 10
largely reflecting slightly negative growth in the global market for carrier
telecommunications equipment and related applications and services at actual
Cancom 3.69 7 38 8
exchange rates. Although we believe the demand for telecommunications
PC-Ware 12.86 9 78 11
services will continue to grow in 2008, the equipment side of the industry is
more likely to see a continuation of 2007’s slightly negative growth, at current
Altec 1.27 -9 127 42
exchange rates,” it says.
Info-Quest 2.32 -1 113 9
“We see both positive long-term forces and some negative short-term
Simac Techniek 2.24 -7 33 224
forces affecting the market. On the positive side, developing countries are
continuing to invest in their networks. The transition to IP in every aspect of
Komplett 10.09 0 134 21
the network continues, from fixed to mobile and from the core to the edge.
There is a growing impact of video and content on broadband networks. Our
ProAct 3.85 0 41 18
customers are seeing the benefit of 3G wireless broadband services in the
Computacenter (£) 2.32 6 358 10
form of increased data revenues, which should drive additional spending to
further enhance their broadband capabilities. In addition, there are a growing
IS Solutions (£) 0.33 3 8 17
number of subscribers all around the world. In the shorter term there are some
downside risks.”
Didata (£) 0.64 2 988 19
Morse (£) 0.79 13 102 14
This continues to be a very competitive industry and a competitive
environment. Some customers are assessing network-sharing arrangements
Insight 10.59 -1 516 12
that may have a negative impact on capital expenditures, but which might
also offer opportunities from a services standpoint, it says. There is also
Systemax 8.07 36 292 7
some uncertainty around the macroeconomic environment and the potential
repercussion of a recession in the United States on operators’ capital
expenditures. “Given all these issues, and taking into account the weight of
rETaILErS
Mkt cap
Price (4
% month
) P/E ratio
our business in the US, our initial projections for 2008 indicate that the global 10.03.08 - 10.04.08
change 4m
telecommunications equipment and related services market should be flat
to slightly up at a constant €/US$ exchange rate and slightly down at current
PPR 86.44 1 11071 11
exchange rates.”
Arcandor 12.53 -4 2810 -
Cost cutting goes on, though: “We will continue to execute our three-year Metro 50.05 -8 16222 20
plan that has been underway since the business combination with Lucent to
restructure our business. The ongoing implementation of a more selective
Synaxon 6.10 -2 24 8
pricing approach and our product cost reduction program should enable us to
Plaisio 7.90 -2 174 33
improve our gross margin. We also intend to make continued good progress in
our fixed costs reduction programme.” CDC 2.60 -1 32 232
Traders bid up Citrix shares last week on takeover rumors that either IBM or
CHL 0.41 -7 55 -
Cisco would buy the application delivery vendor. Citrix’s stock went from
DSGi (£) 5.95 -1 1239 -
a low of $30.60 (€19.36) Tuesday to a high of $33.75 (€21.35). Rumors of Citrix
being purchased fueled the higher trading prices, says one analyst but nobody Game Group (£) 3.04 23 1047 30
is comment from within the companies. Citrix is becoming attractive because
of its acquisition of XenSource last year which made it a strong player in the
Kesa Electricals (£) 2.60 2 1377 11
virtualisation market. Microsoft, busy attempting to purchase Yahoo, is not
Office Depot 7.16 2 1955 8
being mentioned in the Citrix takeover rumors, and is in any case, building its
own virtualisation. It also has a very close relationship with Citrix and mutual

working agreements.
S

ource: Thomson Financial Datastream
18 aPr 2008 27
It0807 - 26-31_financials.indd 27 16/04/2008 10:59:54
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