Finance Briefs

Nortel Networks Ltd. said it will file its unaudited financial statements for the third quarter of 2004 and the unaudited financial statements for 2004 by the end of April. The company also indicated it had about $3.7 billion in cash at the end of last year. “The company continues to work with its external auditors on the internal control reports required for the first time in connection with the 2004 annual reports,” said the company. The company has been reviewing its financial records for the past year.

Verizon Wireless said it has completed the purchase of Cellular 2000 of St. Cloud from St. Cloud Wireless Holdings L.L.C. and that it has begun offering Verizon Wireless branded services to Cellular 2000’s approximately 42,000 subscribers. The transaction, which was announced earlier this year, included Cellular 2000’s cellular spectrum license covering 250,000 potential customers in Benton, Stearns and Sherburne counties, which are adjacent to the greater Minneapolis/St. Paul metropolitan area. Verizon Wireless also acquired Cellular 2000’s network and operations assets for the St. Cloud market.

Broadcom Corp. said its board of directors has authorized a program to repurchase its Class A common stock with an aggregate value of up to $250 million over a period of a year. The company said the repurchases will happen in the open market or privately negotiated in accordance with the Securities and Exchange Commission’s Rule 10b-18. “This plan does not obligate Broadcom to acquire any particular amount of common stock, and the plan may be suspended at any time at Broadcom’s discretion,” said the company.

Deutsche Bank raised its rating on Infineon from “sell” to “buy” following news that the company plans to restructure its chip manufacturing organization, including phasing out manufacturing at its Munich Perlach plant in Germany.

ABOUT AUTHOR