HUNTSVILLE (dpa-AFX) - US telecoms equipment supplier Adtran Holdings' balance sheet continues to be hit by weak business. In the fourth quarter, earnings shrank by 37 percent year-on-year to 225.5 million US dollars (208 million euros), as the parent company of Adtran Networks announced on Tuesday in Huntsville (US state of Alabama) when it published preliminary figures. The operating margin - the ratio of the operating result adjusted for special effects to sales - amounted to minus 1.4 percent. The company had expected between minus seven and zero percent. Adtran Holdings excludes costs for acquisitions and group restructuring, for example.

The bottom line for shareholders in the fourth quarter was a loss of just under 110 million dollars. In the previous year, the telecoms equipment supplier had reported a profit of just under 39 million dollars. This meant that the company slipped even deeper into the red for the year as a whole. The US company, which is listed on the SDax, has already introduced cost-cutting measures to get the problems under control. Adtran Holdings is the parent company of the German company Adtran Networks (formerly Adva Optical)./mne/stk