New Restatement for Nortel

Nortel (NT Quote), with its third adjustment in two months, has found even more bookkeeping errors, taking its restatement total for the past three years to nearly $1.5 billion.

The Canadian telecom gearmaker also reported an adjusted fourth-quarter bottom line that was worse than its recently lowered guidance, thanks to shrinking gross margins. In a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission late Friday, Nortel said it lost 2 cents a share, before items, on sales of $2.99 billion in the latest quarter. The company lost 1 cent a share, on a pro forma basis, and had revenue of $2.5 billion in the year-ago period.

Last month, Nortel issued a preliminary fourth-quarter report that called for an adjusted profit of 4 cents, but in the final report, Nortel's gross margin slipped to 39.4% from the 43.3% the company had targeted. Once it factored in various items, including costs of $2.47 billion to settle shareholders lawsuits, Nortel lost $2.30 billion, or 53 cents a share, in the most recent quarter. ...