Better margins push NTL Ireland profits up €1m

Improved margins and lower bad debt charges delivered an extra €1 million in profits for cable company NTL Ireland in the three months to the end of June, the company said yesterday.

The Irish subsidiary of the NASDAQ-listed global cable TV and telecoms company said that in the quarter ended in June, revenues improved by 2.7 per cent to €26.9 million from €26.2 million in the same period last year.

Profit for the three-month period grew 13.8 per cent to €9.1 million from €8 million in 2003.

The company said the improved profitability was due to improvements in gross margins, reductions in bad debt charges and other operating efficiencies.

The number of residential cable TV subscribers remained unchanged on last year at 341,200. Monthly customer "churn" or turnover dropped to 0.7 per cent during the quarter from 1.2 per cent during the same period last year.

NTL said it had approximately 82,200 digital subscribers, including 17,000 micro-wave distribution system (MMDS) subscribers, who switched from analogue to digital.

In comparison, Sky reported yesterday that 323,000 subscribers have signed up for its digital service.

NTL supplies cable and digital television to homes in Dublin, Waterford and Galway. The company also offers telecommunications services to the business market. Mr Graham Sutherland, managing director of NTL Ireland, said the company continued to improve its financial performance.

"We are well placed to further strengthen the products and services offered to our residential and business customers," he said.

The company recently announced a broadband investment programme which is targeting 100,000 homes by the end of this year.

At a global level, NTL reported a loss before tax of $447.9 million (€372.1 million) for the quarter, compared with $259.5 million last year.

A key contributor to the increased loss before tax for the quarter was a one-off $290 million charge resulting from a refinancing of its debts.

Its operating losses for the quarter fell by $60 million on the same period in 2003 to $12.7 million.

The company said the improvement was due to increased profitability in different segments of its business (including NTL Ireland) and a fall in depreciation costs.

Loss per share for the quarter was $5.16 compared with $4.36 last year.

For the first six months of the year the cable television group reported a 20 per cent plus jump in revenues to $2.13 billion from $1.76 billion during the first half of 2003.

Losses before tax increased by 10 per cent to $564 million from $510 million. Losses per share were $6.55 as against $9.07 last year.