Concert rocks to the cost of ringing the changes

Concert, the struggling international joint venture between BT and AT&T, is likely to lose $500m in the first half of this year.

AT&T yesterday revealed that its share of losses in the joint venture was $122m for the first quarter 2001. Chuck Noski, CFO of AT&T, said that Concert's losses will rise in the next quarter due to costs of the restructuring started early this month. A BT spokesman said the company cannot comment as it is in its closed period. She added: "We are in talks with AT&T to work out how to strengthen Concert." Michael Armstrong, AT&T chairman, said in a statement, Concert has been hit by rising bad debt, weak sales by some distributors, particularly in Europe, and high depreciation charges. Tim Dillon, principal analyst at Current Analysis, said: "I am not surprised that Concert is continuing to experience difficulties. The company has been plagued by internal management issues and empire building since day one. It has also been hammered a little by newer players with a single management and control structure."