WorldCom Ireland lost over €5m in 2004

Telecoms company MCI WorldCom Ireland lost €5.32 million in 2004 as its parent, the multinational firm formerly known as WorldCom, emerged from bankruptcy protection in the US.

The result compares badly to MCI WorldCom Ireland's performance in 2003, when it generated a pretax profit of €24.18 million. However, the firm's 2003 results were boosted by a once-off balance sheet adjustment of €23.2 million, due to the release of a bad debt provision during the year.

Turnover at MCI WorldCom Ireland was flat at €65.4 million in 2004, just slightly below the €65.7 million reported for 2003.

This represented a better performance for the fixed-line telecoms firm, which saw its turnover fall by a total of €8.7 million in the two years 2002-2003.

This occurred at a time when its US parent first entered bankruptcy protection following the discovery of a massive accounting fraud there.

Last month WorldCom's former chief executive Bernie Ebbers was jailed for 25 years for his part in the fraud, which was estimated to be worth $11 billion (€8.89 billion).

WorldCom changed its name to MCI when it emerged from chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in the US and has implemented a major restructuring programme.

This programme saw 11,000 people made redundant last year at the firm, which is currently in protracted takeover talks with the US telecoms firm Verizon.

MCI also released results yesterday which showed that the firm returned to profit in the second quarter of 2005 for the first time since it went into bankruptcy protection. The results show it generated net income of $64 million, or 19 cents a share, compared with a loss of $71 million, or 22 cents, a share year earlier. Revenue fell 10 per cent to $4.68 billion when compared to a year earlier, and was also 2 per cent down on the first quarter.

Verizon has agreed to pay $8.6 billion for MCI, and hopes to close the purchase by the end of the year. It remains unclear how the proposed sale will affect MCI's overseas operations such as MCI WorldCom Ireland.

MCI WorldCom Ireland, which recently filed its results with the Companies Office, has also undergone a cost-cutting programme. This cut staff levels to 74 people in 2004, from 102 in 2003. Accumulated losses at the company were €103.3 million at the 31st December, 2004.