C&W's profit shrinks

UK's second largest telco looks set for sell-off

Telco may look to jettison parts of its business

Cable & Wireless (C&W) saw its annual profit shrink 5.7 per cent to £164m for the year ended 31 March 2008, and is considering selling some of its assets to boost shareholders returns. Revenue dipped from £3.35bn in 2007 to £3.15bn in the same period.

C&W sells a range of voice and data products and services to large UK companies and public sector organisations, including network infrastructure services, IP telephony, virtual private networks (VPNs), contact centre solutions and broadband links.

The company's finance director Tony Rice stated that a broad range of options were being considered, including a de-merger, splitting the company or selling some parts of the business.

C&W created two standalone business units in 2006, consolidating its mainstay European, Asian and US operations into one unit and lumping the rest (including the Caribbean, Monaco and the Channel Islands) into C&W International.