C&W Brings In Caio To Steady The Ship

Caio was the founder and boss of IP service provider, Netscalibur. He is joined at C&W by Kevin Loosemore who moves into the new position of chief operating officer. Loosemore was previously president of Motorola’s Europe, Middle East and Africa operations.

The two men are charged with the task of restoring fortunes at the beleaguered telecoms operator which has struggled to compete in an increasingly difficult market. The crisis came to a head last December when the company had its credit rating downgraded to junk status (see C&W Stock Nosedives Following Downgrade).

The arrival of Richard Lapthorne as chairman marked a turning point and the there has been a changing of the guard at C&W with Wallace the most high profile casualty (see Beleaguered C&W Chief To Exit The Fray). The company has now entered a period of consolidation and today announced that it was in the process of selling domestic businesses in the Netherlands, Belgium, Switzerland, Sweden and Russia. It has also come to a settlement with the Inland Revenue over an existing tax liability (see C&W Settles Tax Dispute With Revenue).

Commenting on today’s appointment, Lapthorne said: “Francesco will now apply his industry experience to a rapid and critical examination of our recent thinking so that we can, at the time of our full-year results in June, clarify the way forward for Cable & Wireless.”

Shares in the company were up 8.5p at 79p at the close of trading today.