Nortel issue profit warning

Nortel Networks has said that weak customer demand will hit Q1 sales and it will now be very difficult for the company to meet its sales targets for the quarter.

However, Nortel says that it still expects that it will return to profit by the final quarter of 2002.

It sees sales gradually improving in the second quarter. It expects its bottom-line performance to improve during the year, as cost-cutting starts to take effect.

Nortel made a large number of job cuts in 2001, reducing its workforce by almost half during the year, including about 900 jobs cuts in its Irish operations.