(Bloomberg) Global Crossing Ltd., a year after exiting bankruptcy protection, had a fourth-quarter loss of $27 million as sales fell 16 percent.

The loss compared with net income of $24.9 billion a year earlier when liabilities were erased during the restructuring, Bermuda-based Global Crossing said in a statement. Sales fell to $573 million from $679 million.

Global Crossing, operator of a fiber-optic network that connects 30 countries, sliced its workforce by more than 15 percent last year and closed businesses to help counter a slide in long-distance telephone call prices. The company, run from Florham Park, New Jersey, in December sold $405 million in high ? yield bonds to help keep itself afloat. ?We have ample cash,? Chief Executive Officer John Legere said. ?That was new news to people and rather well received.?

An accounting review found ?material weaknesses? including inadequate supervision of accounting personnel and failure to maintain control over certain accounts, the company said in a statement. The problems are being fixed and a new chief accounting officer has been hired.

Revenue for 2005 will be $1.8 billion to $1.95 billion with a loss, excluding certain items and before interest and taxes of $115 million to $145 million, the company said in a statement. Positive cash flow is expected in the second half of the year.

Since exiting bankruptcy, Global Crossing has faced a demand slump and would have run out of cash by the end of 2004 without the extra bond financing. Global Crossing last year restated 2003 results to increase underreported costs related to the use of other carriers? networks. Cash and equivalents at the end of 2004 were $365 million.

Global Crossing, founded by former Chairman Gary Winnick in 1997, filed for bankruptcy in January 2002 after tumbling demand for network capacity left it unable to repay $12 billion in debt. The case was the second-biggest telecommunications bankruptcy, after WorldCom Inc., which filed for creditor protection in July 2002 and emerged as MCI Inc. in April.