Alcatel-Lucent said that its “efforts to drive profitability and strengthen margins have continued to bear fruit”, as it heads towards its planned combination with Nokia, although its bottom line suffered due to impairment charges.

Philippe Camus, chairman and CEO, said of the deal: “The process is now moving into its final stages, and between the two companies, we are extremely confident of concluding it, as previously indicated, in the first quarter of next year – with a new and exciting global powerhouse in communications technology emerging as a result.”

The company reported a loss attributable to shareholders of €206 million, compared with a loss of €18 million in the prior-year period, on revenue of €3.43 billion, up 5 per cent. At constant currency, revenue would have declined by 6 per cent.

The increase in red ink was attributed to a non-cash impairment charge related to Alcatel-Lucent Submarine Networks, to the tune of €193 million.

It said that its adjusted operating income of €212 million was up 42 per cent year-on-year.

For its Core Networking unit, adjusted operating income increased 28 per cent to €151 million, on revenue of €1.61 billion, up 11 per cent. The improvement in profitability was attributed to improvements in its IP Platforms business.

For the Access unit, adjusted operating income increased 21 per cent to €83 million on revenue of €1.81 billion, which was essentially flat. Within this, Wireless Access revenue increased 1 per cent to €1.18 billion, although this was down 13 per cent at constant currency.

It said that the Wireless unit benefited from continued LTE deployments and volume catch-up from the prior quarter, and its “focus on the development of 5G networks continues to progress”.

And it also said that fixed cost savings of €126 million in the quarter led to a total of €872 million, or “more than 90 per cent” of the objectives set out under the company’s Shift Plan.