PARIS (AFP) -- French-U.S. telecommunications equipment maker Alcatel-Lucent on Tuesday reported a second quarter net loss, accompanied by a sales slump, but maintained its yearly projections.

The company said it sustained a net loss of 336 million euros (460 million dollars) in the April-June period compared with a profit of 302 million euros in the same quarter last year.
Second quarter sales fell 4.0 percent to 4.32 billion euros, consistent with market expectations.
But the second quarter net result fell well short of market forecasts, which predicted net earnings of 79 million euros.
Company finance director Jean-Pascal Beaufret said the group expected ""a strong gain in the second half"" and was maintaining its projection of a 5.0 percent rise in sales for the full year.
Shares in Alcatel-Lucent fell sharply in early trading here, losing 4.96 percent to reach 9.14 euros on an overall Paris market that was 1.04 percent stronger.
Beaufret said the company had shed 3,800 jobs since the start of the year, about 30 percent of the 12,500 target over three years.
Alcatel-Lucent, created in late 2006 through the merger of Alcatel of France and Lucent Technologies of the United States, in February unveiled a vast cost-cutting initiative aimed at saving 1.7 billion euros over three years