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By Bloomberg

Alcatel-Lucent SA, the French network- equipment maker that has cut costs to return to profit, will give details on its growth strategy in the second half as its reorganization plan winds down, Chief Executive Officer Michel Combes said.

“We need a new project and a new plan for 2016 and after,” Combes said in an interview at the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona Monday. “We’ll tell an equity story of profitable growth.”

Combes has 10 months left of his three-year restructuring project to make the Paris-based company profitable and generate positive free cash flow. He has relied on reducing costs to help offset slowing sales and is seeking growth from new customers from Comcast Corp. to Google Inc. Alcatel-Lucent is looking to bulk up its software business and reinforce its services offering including maintenance, he said.

While some may be calling the turnaround plan a success, “there are still a few months to go and I’m still very focused,” Combes said. “We’re back in the race and I’m focused on making sure Alcatel-Lucent is one of the big winners.”

Alcatel-Lucent shares, which have more than tripled since Combes became CEO in 2013, added 0.1 percent to 3.50 euros at 12:40 p.m. in Paris. They had risen 18 percent this year through yesterday.

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Alcatel-Lucent still has room to improve its gross margin from earlier expectations, Combes said Feb. 6. Gross margin, or revenue minus production costs, will be 34 percent of sales or “slightly more” in 2015, he said at the time. The fourth- quarter margin was 34.7 percent.

Market trends may be on Combes’s side -- the executive said there are signs that European phone companies are increasing investments. The U.S. market is “healthy,” Combes said.