Rising sales have enabled reborn telecoms equipment maker Marconi to report narrower second-quarter losses and reiterate its 2005 outlook.
Marconi, which nearly collapsed after a profit warning in 2001, said today its group operating loss for the second quarter ending September 30th narrowed to £29 million from a £62 million loss a year ago.
The company also reiterated its target of sales growth in low single digits for the current year and kept its gross margin target for the year at 34 per cent.
The bursting of the technology bubble between 2000-2001 hit Marconi hard, causing the company to issue a shock profit warning in 2001 and axe thousands of staff.
Marconi only survived after it completed a restructuring which saw its creditors forgive £4 billion of debt in return for majority ownership of the company.
The company said sales of telecoms connection products to customers such as BT and Telecom Italia were going well, and Marconi shares rose 2.6 percent to 518 pence in morning trade.
"Over the long term, I think we'll see a continuing recovery in gross margins and profitability," said Oriel Securities analyst Mr Nick Hyslop. Mr Hyslop kept a "buy" rating on Marconi, while Commerzbank analysts kept an "overweight" rating.