Avaya Reports Wider 4Q Loss, Revenue Dip

For the quarter ended Sept. 30, the company reported a loss of $534 million, or $1.47 per share, compared with a loss of $328 million, or $1.17 per share, the same quarter last year.

Avaya reported revenue for the quarter of $1.15 billion, down 20 percent from revenue of $1.44 billion the same quarter a year ago.

Excluding one-time charges of $467 million, Avaya reported a loss of $67 million, or 18 cents per share.

Financial analysts expected Avaya to report an earnings loss of 6 cents on revenue of $1.16 billion, according to Thomson First Call.

"Enterprise spending on IT in general and on communications products and services in particular continue to be constrained," said Don Peterson, chairman and CEO of Avaya, based here, during a conference call. "It's clear that our customers are focused on holding down their cost and their capital expenditures until they see an upturn in their own sales and profitability," he said.

For fiscal 2002, Avaya reported a loss of $656 million, or $2.41 per share, compared with a loss of $352 million, or $1.33 per share, in fiscal 2001.

Revenue for the year dipped to $4.96 billion, down from $6.79 billion the previous year.

Avaya continues to search for a buyer for its connectivity solutions unit, a noncore business, but has yet to receive a fair-value offer in the current economic climate, Peterson said, conceding that the company might not find a suitable offer in the near-term.

Shares of Avaya closed flat Wednesday at $1.55 prior to the earnings announcement.