Consider L3C Company, which provides a range of integrated communications services. The company has had losses for a number of years, which it attributes to a difficult competitive environment. The 20X8 annual report states ‘We believe that . . . these factors created an unsustainable level of competition in the market.

We believe that this was evidenced by both the number of competitors vying for similar business and by the amount of inventory or capacity each brought to the market for many services. The result of these actions was an oversupply of capacity and an intensely competitive environment.’ The net loss has steadily increased from €458 million in 20X4 to €638 million in 20X5 to €744 million in 20X6 to €1,114 million in 20X7. The company’s actual loss for 20X8 was €290 million. Suppose the company budgeted to break even for 20X8. Evaluate operating performance for 20X8.