Nortel Delays Financial Filing Again

MANHASSET, N.Y. — Nortel Networks Corp. (Toronto) announced Thursday (Nov. 11) it would delay filing revised financial statements for 2003 and the first half of 2004 within 30 to 60 days, as the troubled network infrastructure supplier continues the painstaking task of restating its finances.Nortel originally expected to released revised financial statements for the earlier quarters by mid-November; however, the company decided to again delay filing because it wants to double-check revenue statements."In the course of the Company's reviews over the last two weeks, we have found a level of revenue restatement which warrants that we undertake a deliberate, focused but bounded double-checking of several revenue areas," said Bill Owens, president and chief executive of Nortel, in a staement. "We have taken this decision to postpone our filings as a prudent measure to take the steps needed to ensure that we have captured all necessary corrections and adjustments in our restated results." Based on its work to date, Nortel expects annual revenue for 1999 and 2000 to be adjusted downward, but increased for 2001, 2002, and 2003. Revenue for 2003 is projected to show a 5 percent increase over 2002, with 2004 revenue to increase by low single digits. Nortel also said it would release third-quarter results in mid-December, instead of the end of November as stated previously.