Telecoms equipment maker Marconi, recovering after a near collapse, has given a cautious market outlook despite posting third-quarter sales five per cent above the preceding quarter.
"While we remain cautious on market outlook in the near term, we're encouraged by the level of interest in our next generation product platforms and we continue to win important new business," the Chief Executive Mr Mike Parton said today.
Last week, Lucent Technologies, one of the world's largest makers of telecommunications equipment posted its second consecutive quarterly profit and said the telecoms industry was stabilising after three years of declining spending.
Slimmed-down Marconi, which was forced to sell units and axe 6,000 jobs after the bottom fell out of its markets, said group sales in the three months to end-December 2003 rose to 408 million pounds from 389 million in the second quarter.
Marconi said sales would have been higher by about 11 million pounds, had the US dollar been constant.
Once a pillar of British industry, Marconi was forced to strike a restructuring deal that handed 99.5 per cent of the group's equity to its creditors. It is selling non-core businesses in a bid to pay down its debt pile.
Earlier this month, it announced the sale of its North American Access business, which provides high-speed communications services, for $240 million in cash.