Debt-laden British cable company Telewest said today it will cut 1,500 jobs in an effort to save up to £50 million sterling a year.
Further savings would be made through cuts in capital expenditure, Telewest said today. Most of the jobs would be lost on the network side of the business, since many improvements had been made in the cable network over the past two years.
First-quarter earnings fell by £3 million from the quarter before to £91 million. Revenue rose 4 per cent to £334 million, and net loss was reduced to £166 million from £209 million one year ago.
Telewest and NTL, competing head-on with former phone monopoly BT and dominant pay TV group BSkyB, are burdened with huge interest payments on debts accumulated in a late 1990s acquisition spree.
As their networks do not overlap, many analysts expect the two to merge once they are free from their debt burdens.
Telewest shares, off a record low of 7-1/4 pence in mid-April, added half a penny to 10.9 pence in early trade - valuing the former FTSE 100 blue chip at £344 million.