AT&T; Sales Up 11% in ‘94, Best Since Breakup : Telecom: Long-distance giant also regains market share. Fourth-quarter profit rockets 70%.

Long-distance giant AT&T; Corp. on Tuesday announced its best year of earnings and revenue growth since the breakup of the Bell system 10 years ago, capped by a 70% increase in profit for the fourth quarter. The company also reported that it has recovered long-distance market share for the first time since being forced apart in 1984.

Chairman Robert T. Allen said 1994 marked “our best financial performance since we became the new AT&T;” in 1984. Its revenue growth of $5.7 billion, more than 8%, was twice as large as any year since the breakup.

For the three months ended Dec. 31, AT&T; earned $1.34 billion, or 85 cents a share, up from $776 million, or 50 cents a share, a year earlier. Results in 1993 were restated to include the performance of McCaw Cellular Communications, which AT&T; acquired for $11.5 billion in September.

Revenue for the year rose 11% to $21.11 billion from $19.07 billion a year earlier.

Long-distance revenue increased 5.4% for the quarter as calling volume rose 9%. The company began an aggressive marketing promotion last spring to win back people who had gone to MCI Communications Corp. or Sprint Corp. for long-distance service.

By year’s end, AT&T; had signed up a million new residential long-distance customers and won back market share for the first time, said Richard Miller, chief financial officer.

The company does not estimate its market share, but analysts say AT&T; carries about 60% of the nation’s long-distance traffic.

The company’s computer business, formerly NCR Corp., reported that fourth-quarter revenue was 28% higher than a year ago, chiefly due to greater sales of personal computers and automated teller machines. The unit rebounded with an increase in operating income before restructuring charges.

AT&T;’s network equipment business also performed strongly, with its revenue in the quarter up 20% from a year ago. And revenue grew 25% for its financial services business, which includes the AT&T; Universal Card.

For all of 1994, AT&T; earned $4.71 billion, or $3.01 a share, its best performance since the 1984 divestiture of the local phone companies. Its previous record profit was $3.67 billion in 1990.

The company lost $5.91 billion, or $3.82 a share, in 1993 due to accounting charges. Excluding the charges, AT&T; earned $3.70 billion, or $2.39 a share, in 1993.

Revenue for 1994 was $75.09 billion, up from $69.35 billion a year ago.

AT&T; said its ’94 net income would have been even larger--$4.90 billion--if the costs of its acquisition of McCaw Cellular Communications were excluded.

The scale and power of AT&T--long; an industry giant--is now breathtaking, analysts say, with a presence in every area of the mushrooming global telecommunications industry.

“AT&T; now has the same revenues as the entire Bell system just before the breakup in 1984, when they spun off about 85% of their assets,” said telecommunications analyst John Bain of Raymond James Associates.

The company, based in Basking Ridge, N.J., said phone services revenue grew 25.7% in the quarter, to $10.96 billion, and 4.3% to $43.43 billion for all of 1994.

The number of cellular phone customers jumped 33% to 4 million during the year, from the combined 3 million AT&T; and McCaw had at the end of 1993.