Nortel still in the red

 
Nortel’s CEO and president Mike Zafirovski says Nortel is on
track to financial recovery, despite losses.

Canadian vendor Nortel Networks posted another loss in the first quarter of the year, but said its turnaround strategy is on track as shown by the fact that Q1 revenue grew 11 per cent compared to a year ago.

CEO and president Mike Zafirovski said the growth in revenue to US$2.76 billion was due to completion of a contract in the LG-Nortel joint venture and improvements in gross and operating margins.

“We expect to achieve our full-year guidance and we continue to make solid progress against the strategy to turn around the company,” Zafirovski said. Nortel made a net loss of US$138m in Q108 as compared to a loss of US$103m a year earlier. The equipment manufacturer has an ongoing restructuring process underway, which accounted for US$88m of costs in Q108.

In the company’s Q4 and full year results for 2007, it stated that under a 2008 restructuring plan, it expects to implement a net reduction of its global workforce by approximately 2,100 positions.

Thus the company has shed more than 60,000 jobs in six years, leaving its staff compliment at around 30,000 currently.