Alcatel-SEL AG says it stands by its original projection of a 1994 operating loss of $140m plus restructuring provisions of $130m to $200m: an Alcatel-SEL spokesman said Alcatel Alsthom SA’s chairman Pierre Suard had made confusing remarks to journalists in Stuttgart on Thursday night, but that nothing in its outlook had changed since November 9 – Suard said on Thursday Alcatel-SEL loss would be bigger than previously expected and would total $330m to $400m but Alcatel-SEL said this was misleading because it did not distinguish between operating loss and provisions and did not say how much time had elapsed since its previous projection; meantime Dieter Spoeri, economics minister of Baden-Wrttemberg state, accused Suard of exaggerating how bad the situation was, suggesting that his aim was to put pressure on the firm to carry out the planned restructuring which involves redundancy for 5,300 people.
