Nortel's Filing Games
Technically, Nortel started to file its 2003 annual report with the Securities & Exchange Commission. That said, there is something not-quite-right about how and when it went about doing it.
A month ago, Nortel said it would “commence” to file its 10-K for 2003 as well as its Q1 and Q2 results from 2004 on Jan. 10. Last week, it decided to amend this approach by only filing its 10-K while making investors wait several weeks for the Q1, Q2 and Q3 results for 2004. Today, Nortel made another small change by saying it would “commence” to file its 10-K after the markets close. Given Nortel's filing is a few hundred pages,the SEC will likely be unable to get the 10-K out today.
Perhaps I'm being overly sensitive about Nortel's filing behaviour but this is a company with a terrible optics problems and little goodwill with the investment community. After missing four self-imposed deadlines to file its restated results, Nortel set Jan. 10 as “D-Day”. Most people assumed the numbers would available today but Nortel gave itself enough to wiggle room to change the rules a little bit and make people wait until Tuesday morning.
You have to wonder why Nortel couldn't have started to file its 10-K this morning. Maybe it wants to play head games with investors, or maybe its 650 accountants had some last minutee work to do. Whatever the reason, it looks amateurish.
