TORONTO-As it grapples with its accounting woes, Nortel Networks Ltd. dashed market expectation by failing to announce its second-quarter results.
This drove down the company stock by 6.1 percent to $3.83 from a pre-open position of $4.25, indicative of the constant pressure the financial crisis has inflicted on the wireless vendor.
The company said it is still reviewing its financials with its internal audit committee even as the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission and the Canadian regulatory bodies also are examining the company’s books.
“This has been a challenging time for the company, our investors, customers and employees. We will get through it in good shape,” said Bill Owens, president and chief executive officer, who replaced Frank Dunn, who was recently ousted by the company’s board of director “for cause.”
“At the same time, we are encouraged to be seeing good business momentum and support from our customers with growing demand for our next-generation networking solutions.” The company also fired its chief financial officer and controller.
The company, which is still reeling under a series of class-action lawsuits, upset Wall Street when it announced it had overstated its net earnings for 2003 by 50 percent and overstated its losses in 2001 and 2002.
The vendor has, however, showed resilience in its technology offerings, racking up contracts and unveiling compelling solutions in the market, including Voice over Internet Protocol and CDMA2000 equipment.
