Altura Communication Solutions - Avaya posts Big Increase in 3rd-Quarter Income


	Avaya posts Big Increase in 3rd-Quarter Income Anaheim, CA - Jul 29, 2005 - Avaya, a maker of communications equipment for businesses, yesterday reported sharply higher third-quarter earnings. The Basking Ridge company posted net income of $194 million, compared with $61 million a year ago, largely due to favorable tax settlements. Revenue in the quarter increased to $1.24 billion, from $1.02 billion, a gain of 22 percent. The company attributed the increase to acquisitions it made during the year. The increase in profit included the favorable impact of $123 million related to the settlement of tax matters and deferred tax adjustments. Earnings per share amounted to 40 cents, compared with 13 cents in the same quarter a year ago. Excluding those items, earnings per share were 14 cents, exceeding the consensus on Wall Street by 2 cents. "We improved our performance during the quarter," said Don Peterson, chairman and chief executive officer of Avaya, who noted the company introduced a suite of products and forged more relationships with other telecom suppliers. Beyond posting higher profits, the company said it retired much of its debt in the quarter, leaving it with $31 million. It also repurchased 5.6 million shares of its common stock during the quarter at a cost of $47 million. Avaya, which supplies gear that sends telephone calls via the Internet, said shipments of its Internet phone equipment rose sharply, offsetting a flat performance by its service unit. Sales in the United States rose 4 percent, according to Peterson, a reflection of the quicker adoption by businesses here to Internet telephone service. The company said assuming economic conditions remain stable, it expects operating earnings growth based on an acceleration in revenue growth and continued cost and expense management. About Altura Communication Solutions Headquartered in Anaheim, California, Altura Communication Solutions sells and services a variety of products, including voice switching systems, voice messaging systems, contact centers, voice conferencing systems, network and system management tools and broadband data communications products. The company has nationwide service capabilities and an enterprise customer base of more than 2,000 companies in the financial, education, healthcare and government markets. Altura is owned by Platinum Equity. About Avaya Avaya Inc. designs, builds and manages communications networks for more than 1 million businesses worldwide, including 90 percent of the FORTUNE 500®. Focused on businesses large to small, Avaya is a world leader in secure and reliable Internet Protocol (IP) telephony systems and communications software applications and services. Driving the convergence of voice and data communications with business applications - and distinguished by comprehensive worldwide services -Avaya helps customers leverage existing and new networks to achieve superior business results. About Platinum Equity Platinum Equity is a global acquisition firm specializing in the strategic operation of mission-critical companies according to a unique M&A&O(SM) model of value creation. Since its founding in 1995, Platinum has completed over 40 privately funded transactions, leveraging a multi-billion dollar revenue base derived from the continued growth of its portfolio. With an established infrastructure in North America, Europe, Asia and South America, Platinum employs a workforce of more than 15,000 serving over 600,000 customer sites worldwide. For more information contact: Mark Izumi Altura Communication Solutions 714-948-8501 alturasales@alturacs.com Barbara Burgess Avaya Inc. 908-953-3348 barbarab@avaya.com