Telewest pleases despite £2bn loss

CABLE TV company Telewest beat City forecasts with its operating performance for 2001 but racked up losses of nearly £2bn after a huge writedown.

Telewest is taking a £1.1bn charge against the £2.4bn acquisition two years ago of the Flextech content provider from which Telewest chief executive Adam Singer joined. It did the all-share deal when its stock was riding high at 384p. The shares climbed to 20 1/2p, but later retraced to end off 1 3/4p at 16p.

Singer remains bullish about Telewest's future, despite debts spiralling to £5.1bn at the 2001 year end from £4.4bn a year earlier. Singer said as long as Telewest continued to increase underlying operating profits, the company had more than £1bn of drawable financing facilities.

Underlying 'ebitda' profits before substantial depreciation and debt charges rose by 26% to £319m on turnover up 17% at £1.3bn - both significantly ahead of analysts' expectations.

Capital expenditure is expected to fall by about £130m in the current year from £653m in 2001. The company also hopes to boost revenues with a 20% rise in the monthly price of its basic telephone and TV package to £11.49.