TORONTO, Aug 19 (AFP) - Scandal-hit telecoms giant Nortel Networks on Thursday tried to muscle its way out of a bookkeeping crisis, cutting 10 percent of its workforce and unveiling keenly awaited first-half results.
The firm, the target of criminal probes in Canada and the United States and two regulatory investigations over an accounting scandal, is also working to restate discredited past performance data.
As it battles to escape turmoil which soiled its onetime status as a darling of the high-tech boom, Nortel, North America's largest telecoms equipment maker, also said it would cut 3,500 jobs, or 10 percent of its workforce.
"Estimated unaudited net earnings per share in the first half of 2004 were 0.00 US dollars to 0.02 US dollars," the firm said in a statement.
Revenues for the first six months of 2004 were approximately 5.1 billion US dollars, according to the firm, which is based in Brampton, Ontario, just outside Toronto.