Companies: CyberWorks Posts Big '00 Loss, Hurt by Internet Industry Woes --- Core Web-Oriented Investments Turned Sour at Hong Kong Company --- Analysts Say Telecom Operations Will Boost Revenue

The company reported net profit of US$44 million in 1999. It said revenue in 2000 was US$935 million, up from US$19 million in 1999, with the big jump attributable to CyberWorks' takeover in August of former Hong Kong phone monopoly Cable & Wireless HKT Ltd. The earnings for 2000 include 4...

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Bibliographic Details
Published inWall Street journal. Europe
Main Author By Gren Manuel and Matt Pottinger
Format Newspaper Article
LanguageEnglish
Published Brussels Dow Jones & Company Inc 29.03.2001
EditionEurope
Subjects
Acquisitions & mergers
Balance sheets
Internet
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Summary:The company reported net profit of US$44 million in 1999. It said revenue in 2000 was US$935 million, up from US$19 million in 1999, with the big jump attributable to CyberWorks' takeover in August of former Hong Kong phone monopoly Cable & Wireless HKT Ltd. The earnings for 2000 include 4 1/2 months of contributions from HKT. The company's strategy seemed to be to take all its bad medicine in one shot. CyberWorks wrote all the US$22 billion in goodwill from the HKT acquisition against its balance sheet, wiping out shareholders' funds and making the company technically insolvent. (Goodwill is the difference between the price paid for a business and the book value of its assets.) The audited balance sheet will show the company's liabilities exceed its assets by US$1.8 billion. The old HKT business was a reliable dividend-payer that formed a core holding for many retirement funds. CyberWorks on Wednesday declared no dividend.
ISSN:0921-9986