Cable & Wireless Worldwide reported revenues for its fiscal full year to end March at GBP 2.25 billion, down slightly from 2,26 billion the year before. EBITDA beat the company´s guidance, up 2.6 percent to GBP 442 million, while the profit before tax and exceptions lifted 23 percent to GBP 143 million. The company has proposed a dividend per share at GBP 0.045. CEO Jim Marsh said the company passed the important milestone of turning cash positive for the first time with free cash flow generation at GBP 61 million.
Looking forward into 2011/12, the company expects trading cash flow growth to continue despite EBITDA remaining at the same level as 2010/11. The CEO said that the movement to cloud, along with the ongoing convergence between mobile and fixed line communications and the rapid growth in global data traffic will create good opportunities.
In the fiscal year, the traditional voice and legacy gross margin fell by GBP 32 million (11%), but was partially offset by continued growth in the strategic data product set, where gross margin grew by GBP 22 million. The proportion of group gross margin which came from voice and legacy products fell again and now forms less than 25 percent of group gross margin. The CEO expects the current two trends to continue, namely the decline in traditional voice, offset by the increasing customer appetite for more complex solutions, requiring a suite of network, hosting and applications services.
UK enterprise revenues advanced 1.4 percent to GBP 849, with UK public sector sales flat at GBP 285 million and UK Carrier revenues up 1.4 percent to GBP 354 million. At Global, enterprise revenue rose 6 percent to GBP 195 while carrier revenue went up 1 percent to GBP 362 million, bringing total Global sales to GBP 212 million, down from 242 million the year earlier.
