US telecom and internet group WorldCom has posted fourth quarter earnings of $305 million, down 48% from the same period a year ago. The earnings amounted to 13 cents a share, just shy of the forecast on Wall Street.
Fourth quarter revenues were $5.3 billion from $4.9 billion a year earlier.
WorldCom Ireland provides services to over 4,500 corporate customers nationwide and employs 200 people in Dublin, Cork, Limerick and Galway.
The company said that its fourth quarter results exclude after-tax charges associated with international severance packages and writedowns on its Brazilian long-distance affiliate Embratel, which it deconsolidated at the end of the second quarter.
Looking ahead, WorldCom said it expects mid-single-digit percentage growth in 2002 in both revenues and earnings.
In reference to impending accounting changes, WorldCom said it has engaged an independent appraisal firm to conduct impairment reviews of the company's intangible assets with indefinite useful lives as required accounting rules.
It expects to complete this assessment in the second quarter and estimates that as a result it will write down between $15 to 20 billion in goodwill.
