LIME Offices – Cayon Street – Basseterre
Photo By Erasmus Williams
Basseterre, St. Kitts – Nevis
August 10, 2009 (CUOPM)
LIME ““ Cable and Wireless (St. Kitts and Nevis) is reporting a pre-tax profit of EC$17.5 million for the year 2008/2009 compared to EC$25.8 million for the period 2007/2008.
“A one off exceptional costs (EC$5.8 million) associated with our transformation were mainly responsible for this decline,” said LIME Chairman for St. Kitts and Nevis Mr. Lawrence Mc Naughton.
The company in its annual statement to shareholders reported profit after tax of EC$8.6 million in 2008/2009 compared to EC$14.8 million in 2007/2008 and EC$12.5 million in 2006/2007.
LIME reported gross revenue of EC$105.6 million in 2008/2009 compared to EC$106.6 million for 2007/2008 and Corporation tax of EC$8.9 million in 2008/2009 compared to EC$11 million in 2007/2008.
“Our gross revenue of EC$105.6 was marginally lower than that of the previous year. Growth in mobile, broadband and other revenues have minimized the impact of the decline in the traditional fixed line business,” said Naughton in his Chairman’s Report.
He said that much of the success of the company ““ the Federation’s only full service telecommunications provider ““ over the last financial year must be attributed to the commitment of several colleagues including some who have left the company over the last several months as part of the reorganization of the business and whose combined hard work and dedication contributed significantly to the growth and development of the company over the years.
Country Manager, Mr. David Lake said the company has weathered the storm and has delivered encouraging results.
“The challenges of the previous year did not abate but rather exacerbated by the global financial turmoil, during the latter half of the year. Notwithstanding the exigent economic environment, however, your company was able to stay on course through operational efficiency gains and other productivity improvement changes in the year under review,” said Mr. Lake.
He noted that Gross Margin for the year grew by EC$2.8 million over the prior year mainly as a result of the growth in Broadband and Mobile Gross Margins, led by reductions in handset subsidies, which resulted in a net Cost of Sales improvement of EC$1.3 million over the year 2007/2008 or a five percent efficiency increase above plan.
Mr. Lake reported the company invested EC$2.2 million in its Broadband Network geared towards delivering high class voice and data services using single technology resulting in a more stable and reliable internet service to customers in key locations of Brighton Estate, Tabernacle, Newton ground and Sandy point areas of St. Kitts and Butlers and Jones Estate in Nevis.
LIME also invested EC$1.7 million to upgrade its Mobile Network providing better quality of service. New sites were established at Dewars Estate in St. Kitts and Prospect in Nevis, the main site at Cayon Street was expanded and additional capacity was increased throughout the Federation.