Britain's Marconi Corporation forecast flat revenues for the year to March 2006, as it announced a £50 million hit to sales from a BT contract loss.
The telecoms equipment maker said earlier this month it would cut 800 jobs and
costs after it was left out of a major contract by its biggest customer BT Group.
Marconi, posting a slightly wider underlying operating loss for the fourth quarter, said price pressures remained fierce across its products and services but that it would try to counter this by cutting costs.
Marconi shares have plunged 44 per cent since it missed out on the BT contract, which it said would reduce revenues from its biggest customer by about £50 million in its current financial year compared with the one just ended.
Marconi had to be rescued by creditors after the 2001 telecoms downturn. Group operating loss after share options, goodwill amortisation and exceptional items for the fourth quarter narrowed to £15 million from a loss of £21 million in the previous quarter, the firm said.
Sales rose 5 per cent to £346 million over the same period.
Marconi said it expected about £50 million of annualised cost savings from recently announced job cuts, as well as other initiatives such as outsourcing manufacturing to lower-cost countries.
About half of this would be realised in the current financial year, it said. The cost of the restructuring would be around £55 million, of which about £45 million would be incurred in the current financial year, Marconi added.