365 Corp losses widen

May 31, 2001
Web posted at: 0907 GMT

LONDON (CNN) -- The troubled UK Internet group 365 Corp. announced widening full-year losses of £16.9 million, up from £5.9 million last year.

Losses of £10 million to £12 million before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation, were expected. Taking into account goodwill acquisition costs and a write-down of the value of acquisitions,  pretax losses were £45.1 million.

365 is best known for its online sports sites, covering mainly football, cricket, rugby and Formula 1 motor racing. But the sector has proved unprofitable and consolidation is taking place.

365's founder and chief executive Dan Thompson will resign next month. He was responsible for its successful flotation in December 1999, but its share price has plummeted from over 300 pence to a low of 12 pence last month.

Deputy chief executive Martin Turner said that the prime focus now was to move 365 into profit.

"This will be achieved through further growth and strict cost control. Non-core or unprofitable parts of our business are being reorganised, sold or closed," he said.

365 burned £5.8 million in its fourth quarter and has £26 million in cash left. It aims to turn profitable at the operating level in the current financial year.

Its business division, which trades as Symphony Telecom and offers integrated telecom services to companies, has been its strongest unit. But it still reported a loss of £4.4 million, up from £1.6 million.

The consumer division is hoping for future success with Eckoh, "Europe's first comprehensive voice portal", which will use state-of-the-art speech-recognition technology when it is launched next month.

365 Corp.'s (TSF) share price was 1.5 per cent higher on Thursday morning at 17.5 pence.

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