C&WW sees its cashflow go into black
CABLE & Wireless Worldwide (C&WW) yesterday released a workmanlike set of results that reassured investors who had been spooked by a torrid few months.
The firm slashed costs to push pre-tax profit up 23 per cent to £143m on slightly lower revenues of £2.3bn.
Shares in the firm, which concentrates on the global corporate market and has a large presence in the UK, closed 4.91 per cent higher. They have lost more than 40 per cent of their value since the demerger.
The business, which split from the former Cable & Wireless Group in 2009, turned cashflow positive for the first time. It reported free cash flow generation of £61m. In 2006 it was burning through well over £400m in cash.
The firm says it now expects trading cashflow to continue to improve next year but Ebitda to remain broadly flat.
It maintained its dividend at 4.5p a share, reassuring investors who feared it could be cut.
Chief executive Jim Marsh said: “This year we passed the important milestone of turning cash positive for the first time. The movement to cloud, along with the ongoing convergence between mobile and fixed line communications and the rapid growth in global data traffic create good opportunities for our business.”