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Technology Stocks : COLT Telecom (COLT) -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Avariceman who wrote (87)	3/9/1999 12:34:00 PM
From: Caxton Rhodes	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 95

INTERVIEW-Colt profit, growth in sight By Neal Boudette FRANKFURT, March 8 (Reuters) - London-based Colt Telecom Plc said on Monday it was nearing profitability and expected a plan to build a Europe-wide network to keep it on ahigh-growth track. Although the seven-year old provider of corporate telecommunications services has yet to make a profit, Chief Executive Paul Chisholm told Reuters the group was closing in on the turning point. "Most of the analysts expect us to be EBITDA positive by the end of 1999," he said in an interview. "I am comfortable withthat." EBITDA stands for earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortisation. Chisholm said he was also comfortable with forecasts for net profit within a few years. Colt is expected to post a 1999 loss of 15 pence per share, according to the median average of 10 analyst estimates as calculated by Reuters Securities 3000. It lost 11 pence per share in 1998. To fuel its growth, Colt has begun building a pan-European telecom system to link networks it already operates in 12 cities across the continent. "We believe this will have an accelerating effect and will maintain our growth long-term," Chisholm said. In London, Colt shares were trading at 11.10 pounds, down seven pence on Monday. They are still up 24 percent so far this year, but off a high of 13.52 pounds. In 1998, Colt shares climbed 480 percent, earning a place in London's FTSE 100 index. Chisholm played down rumours of takeover offers that have occasionally caused its shares to soar. "There's not much to the speculation. We are building the company to be a long-termplayer," he said. He said Fidelity Investments, which owns 56 percent of the company, had no plans to sell all or part of Colt. "Since Colt was founded, Fidelity has not sold one share," he said. Colt shares have been weaker since it said on February 25 that it would raise 200 million pounds by placing shares with institutional investors, and another 300 million pounds by issuing euro-denominated convertible notes. In 1998 Colt sales rose 164 percent to 215 million pounds. But its pre-tax loss widened to 55.6 million pounds as it invested heavily to build glass-fibre networks in major European business centers. The group expects this year's investments to total 450 million pounds, Chisholm said. He said Colt would build new networks in Cologne, Stuttgart, Vienna, Barcelona and four other European cities this year, bringing its total to 20. It would also lay 6,000 kilometres of glass-fibre cable to link its city networks, enabling it to offer Internet, long-distance and other services to large corporations. Several other telecommunications groups are also building similar Europe-wide networks. KPN Telecom of the Netherlands and Qwest Communications International Inc in January completed a 2,400 kilometre system linking eight cities in Germany, France and Belgium. But Chisholm said he believes Colt can compete by offering both local and long-distance services. "Our customers like that integration," he said. Colt has just begun offering corporate customers direct, high-speed connections to the Internet via its inter-city links. Its first customer in Germany is Teledata, which provides financial data for online banking customers of Deutsche Bank, Commerzbank and other financial instuitutions. Colt plans to continue focusing on the European market and has no plans for expansion into the United States or other regions, Chisholm said. ((Frankfurt Newsroom +49 69 756525, frankfurt.newsroom@reuters.com))