Since taking charge at Alcatel-Lucent, Ben Verwaayen may have restored some morale at the troubled Franco-American telecoms equipment maker, which this week is expected to report more net losses in 2008 and almost certainly produce a repeat performance in 2009.

For the moment at least, the transatlantic tensions between the group’s French and US camps appear to have faded. Mr Verwaayen says he wants to turn Alcatel-Lucent into a “normal company”. He is also dismissing the idea of making extravagant acquisitions – or even picking up some of the Nortel pieces that are likely to come on the market as a result of the Canadian group’s collapse.