May 15, 2002 — (WEB HOST INDUSTRY REVIEW) — British telecommunications firm Cable & Wireless (CW.com) today announced full-year revenue results that were in line with its February guidance, and said it had seen better than expected performance from its Web hosting units.
As of March 31 2002, the company had £2.6 billion in net cash, £400m better than forecast.
“Our strong cash position at the end of the year reflects the 100 million lower than expected cost of buying back 15 percent of our shares and very efficient cash management within the group,” said CEO Graham Wallace. “With customers increasingly concerned about the stability of their suppliers, our strong balance sheet is a continuing source of competitive advantage.”
The company said its recent hosting acquisitions, Digital Island and Exodus Communications, had performed well and “substantially strengthened” its presence in the US and its ability to serve enterprise customers. The two companies generated £167 million in revenues for the year, although both companies had been under C&W ownership for less than a year.
C&W also said Digital Island increased its proportion of managed hosting revenue and content delivery volumnes by over 50% compared to the second half of last year, and said Exodus exceeded revenue expectations set at the time of its acquisition because more customers than expected decided to stay with the business.
