Alcatel Workers Offered New Jobs

LANNION, France -- Solutions Plastiques, a plastic moulding company well-known in Europe for the manufacture of specialized agricultural and car industry equipment, and Alcatel Optronics (Paris: CGO; NASDAQ: ALAO), a leader in opto-electronic components for telecommunications systems, today announced the signature of an agreement which would allow the transfer of part of Alcatel Optronics' Lannion site (Brittany, France) employees. Solutions Plastiques will develop jobs in plastic moulding in the Tregor area and will offer 115 jobs to employees of Alcatel Optronics' Lannion site, to be accepted on a voluntary basis. Alcatel Optronics employs 180 people in Lannion. Solutions Plastiques is growing in buoyant markets, such as the car industry and horticultural-agricultural sectors. Solutions Plastiques is positioning itself to benefit from the on-going consolidation of the car industry business in the West of France. In parallel, the company is strengthening its European leader position on the booming specialized agricultural equipment market. "This agreement would allow us to increase our production capacity, to integrate already qualified employees, to accelerate our growth, to decrease our time-to-market, and to complete our product portfolio," explained Philippe Jacob, Chief Executive Officer of Solutions Plastiques. "We wish to enhance our activities in the Tregor area and to reinforce our involvement in the local economy." "We are happy to announce the signature of this agreement, which shows the first step of our conversion project of the Alcatel Optronics' Lannion site", said Claude Amouroux, Chief Executive Officer of Alcatel Optronics France. "The growth of Solutions Plastiques and the quality of its positioning in its markets, would provide strong and motivating opportunities to Alcatel Optronics Lannion employees, while strengthening the employment situation of the Tregor area." The terms of the project will be presented to employee representatives of both companies. Alcatel Optronics