NTL sticks with 2001 targets

NTL sticks to financial targets for 2001

The UK's largest cable telecoms company NTL has said that it will keep to its financial targets for 2001, after reporting strong fourth quarter results.

The news comes after many companies have warned that profits may be down in the coming months.

On Wednesday evening, the internet portal Yahoo issued earnings predictions for the first quarter of 2001 sharply below what analysts had predicted.

The mobile phone company Motorola, the data networking company 3Com, the IT firm Sema and the personal computer maker Dell have also all issued warnings recently.

Pre-tax earnings

NTL reported pre-tax earnings of £65m for the fourth quarter, giving a total of £229m for the year.

The company's revenues were £586m, making £1.88bn for the full year.

Barclay Knapp, chief executive, said the company should achieve its 2001 goals of £385m in earnings on £2.6bn of revenues.

The company's earning figures are before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation.