LIME gains J$130m from asset sale to Ericsson
Published:Wednesday | August 21, 2013 | 12:00 AM
Cable and Wireless Jamaica, which trades as LIME, gained J$130 million off the sale of assets to management partner Ericsson, but did not disclose what the disposal entails.
The company this year outsourced its field operations to the Swedish company, hoping to roll back losses that have plagued the telecoms giant since the last decade. The asset sale is linked to the management agreement which took effect two months ago on May 20, LIME Jamaica said.
The gain from assets helped to cushion losses in the first quarter, in which LIME bled J$827 million or more than double the losses of the first quarter in the previous year.
LIME's revenues were also down by close to half-billion dollars in the June quarter despite a reported 22 per cent annual growth of mobile subscribers, a trajectory Chief Executive Officer Garfield Sinclair says the company expects to maintain.
Increase in Revenue
The improved market share led to a 10 per cent increase in revenue in that segment of the operations in the June quarter. However, fixed line and broadband proved to be killjoys, declining by 12 per cent due to a falling subscriber base for fixed, and down 11 per cent for broadband because of low-price data packages aimed at securing market share under plans such as Browse & Talk.
Revenue across business lines fell to J$4.3 billion, while operating profit fell to J$68 million or one-fifth the level seen in the previous year.
The losses over the years have accumulated to J$39 billion on LIME Jamaica's balance sheet. The company is also more than J$30 billion in hock to its parent company.