NTL Confirms Staff Cuts Ahead Of Telewest Merger

Cable giant NTL is to shed 6,000 employees, as the company’s merger with rival Telewest sees around a third of its staff leave to generate £250 million in savings by the end of 2007.

Announcing the plans in its Q1 results today, NTL said a “significant number” of jobs would be outsourced, with 4,800 employees leaving within 12 months. The cable firm expects to save the equivalent of 3,400 full-time employees with the move.

Today saw NTL announce an increase of £6.9 million in revenue year on year, reaching £636.7 million, while the company claimed to have added 25,000 customers in the quarter, down from 40,700 in Q4 2005 and 55,700 in the same quarter last year.

However, NTL states its strategy is concentrating on convincing customers to purchase more services, rather than expanding its overall customer base.

The company revealed that this strategy was paying dividends, with those opting for its triple play TV, broadband and telephone services to 34.9%, up from 26.8% last year.

Mentioning NTL’s recent agreement to acquire Virgin Mobile (see NTL Confirms £962m Virgin Mobile Takeover), Steve Burch, CEO of the cable firm, said: “With the growth opportunities in our markets, together with substantial merger synergies, we believe we can drive significant free cash flow generation going forward, providing us with strong financial flexibility and improved capital deployment options.”

NTL: 01256 752000 www.ntl.com