June 7, 2006

Nortel Networks Ltd. posted numbers for the first quarter of 2006 that included larger quarterly losses.

Nortel said its loss for Q1 was $167 million more than what Wall Street had predicted.

That number further widens the company’s losses from the same period last year, which were $104 million.

According to Nortel, the net loss included $23 million in income tax expense, $19 million in shareholder litigation expenses and a benefit of $35 million from the sale of businesses and assets.

The company’s revenues saw a slight decline, from $2.39 billion in last year’s first quarter to $2.38 billion.

Nortel reported that its revenues from mobility and converged core networks were down four percent, while revenues from enterprise solutions and packet networks decreased about one percent.

“I am pleased to be current in our financial reporting," said Mike Zafirovski, Nortel’s president and chief executive officer.

"While our results reflect a challenging first quarter, we continue to expect good revenue and operating margin momentum commencing in the second quarter, in line with our previously communicated full year plan.”

Nortel’s shares were down slightly in midday trading Tuesday.

Source: RCR