Telecom equipment maker Cable & Wireless reported a 5 per cent drop in third-quarter revenue as it continued to focus on overhauling its remaining business.
The company posted revenues of £854 million sterling from its continuing businesses for the three months to December 31st, 2003, down 5 per cent on the year and off 3 per cent compared with the preceding quarter.
The 131-year-old former provider of communications to the British empire said the drop would have been lower had currencies been constant but noted that performance had been in line with management expectations.
The firm, which announced last month it was exiting the United States on terms far better than the market expected, reported a net cash balance of £1.6 billion at the end of December.
Cable & Wireless said it had cut its staff by 531 during the quarter to 4,516 people as part of a restructuring.
Cable & Wireless was the best-performing British stock in 2003, with its share price almost trebling, and is up nearly 13 per cent so far this year. The stock closed yesterday at 150-1/2 pence, valuing the firm at around £3.59 billion.