Michael Capellas was hired last year

It is the first monthly profit the firm has made since investors were shocked to discover that accounts had been distorted to the tune of $9bn (�5.7bn).

The firm has been desperately trying to distance its brand name from the scandal and survive in some shape or form.

Worldcom said that although its sales fell, it made a profit in January of $155m, up from a $580m loss in December.

The telecoms firm also said it was on schedule to come back from bankruptcy later in the year, helped by the hiring of a new chief executive and hefty cost cuts.

Cost cutting

Former Hewlett-Packard president Michael Capellas was appointed chairman and chief executive of Worldcom last year.

He has since pushed through a number of saving measures, including laying-off more than 20,000 workers and renegotiating supplier contracts.

Last month, Mr Capellas announced 5,000 more job cuts, which would save Worldcom $2.5m a year.

He said in a statement: "We still have a lot of work to do, but we are delivering on our 100-day plan."

"We are making solid progress on our cost reduction initiatives, and we are profitable. We remain on track to emerge from Chapter 11 protection later this year."

But Worldcom's sales were still down, falling to $2.16bn in January, compared with $2.2bn the month before.

Worldcom's MCI unit is still the biggest US long-distance carrier, but competitors like AT&T and Sprint have snatched some of Worldcom's biggest corporate clients.

Meanwhile, the investigation of the multi-billion dollar fraud continues and several former executives are facing criminal charges.