By John Oates, 13 November 2001 09:27
NEWS Struggling telecoms equipment maker Marconi posted the largest ever loss by a British company today. Marconi lost £5.1bn in the six months to 30 September. The loss includes one-off charges relating to technology investments. The company described the first half of this year as "extremely difficult, with unprecedented declines in spending on network infrastructure among customers in most geographic markets". But chief executive Mike Parton said in a statement: "Operating costs were 12 per cent lower in the second quarter than in the first and the group recorded positive operating cash flow during this three month period. This combined with our disposal programme is now bringing down debt." Marconi has been saddled with debts of £4.3bn, but this will be cut to between £2.7bn and £3.2bn by March 2002. Marconi shares fell almost five per cent on the news.
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