Apr 25, 2001
Less than one month after a disappointing initial public offering, Agere also announced second-quarter loss of $148 million, of 15 cents per share. The company cited the one-time restructuring costs associated with the breakup from Lucent and acquisition expenses made while part of Lucent as well as tax adjustments.
Without extraordinary items, Agere reported earnings of $4 million, breaking even on a per-share basis.
Sales totaled $1.19 billion, a 12 percent increase from the year-ago quarter, but down 13 percent from the first quarter of 2001.
Agere will cut its work force to about 16,500 worldwide by the end of June. The cuts primarily will be at manufacturing facilities in Allentown, Breiningsville and Reading; Irwindale, Calif.; and Orlando, Fla.
Agere is a leading producer of semiconductors and optical components for computer and telephone networks as well as other communications equipment.
Lucent, once the leading supplier of fiber-optic network equipment, has stumbled over the past two years, and is now slashing jobs and selling operations as part of a sweeping turnaround plan.
Lucent originally announced the Agere IPO in January, planning to sell its shares for between $16 and $19 each. But when technology shares continued to retreat in March, Lucent was forced to choose between cutting the price or putting off the IPO until market conditions improve, an option many other companies have chosen.
Lucent, determined to proceed with its reorganization, chose to move ahead with the Agere spinoff and slashed the price to $6, raising just $3.6 billion for Agere. Earlier this month, Lucent issued another 90 million shares of Agere to pay off some of its $519 million debt.
Shares of Agere fell 20 cents, or nearly 3 percent to $6.95 in midday trading on the New York Stock Exchange.
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