23rd May 2014 08:49
LONDON (Alliance News) - CityFibre Infrastructure Holdings PLC Friday said it narrowed its losses in 2013, on the back of lower administrative expenses and revenue growth, while saying it raised GBP30 million in an oversubscribed share placing.
The fibre infrastructure provider, which listed on London's AIM market earlier this year, said in its maiden results that it narrowed its losses slightly in 2013 to GBP6.3 million from GBP6.5 million in 2012, helped by a 7.9% decrease in administration expenses and a 9.7% increase in revenues for the year to GBP1.9 million. CityFibre said the revenue increase was driven largely by its projects in the city of York, making use of the existing York metro network.
CityFibre said trading in the current financial year is as expected, and it is confident in the medium-term prospects for the business.
"Current trading continues in line with our expectations and our pipeline continues to grow beyond that originally articulated during our IPO and the progress of our current infrastructure projects is gathering renewed momentum," the firm said in its statement.
The group said it signed GBP4.7 million in new contracts during the year, including a 20-year contract with Serco Group PLC to provide fibre connectivity to over 100 locations in Peterborough. It also signed a joint venture agreement with British Sky Broadcasting PLC and Talktalk Telecom Group PLC to deploy a fibre-to-the-home network in York, which leverages its existing asset.
In a separate statement Friday, CityFibre said it has conditionally raised GBP30.0 million before expenses in a oversubscribed share placing with new and existing institutional investors, funds it said it will use to accelerate its pipeline of commercial opportunities, and its joint venture with BSkyB and TalkTalk. The group said it has two contracts progressing to the negotiation stage, and is in active discussions with 25 other city councils to acquire or build a city network.
CityFibre said finnCap and Liberum placed 42.9 million shares priced at 70 pence each. It said the funds will be used to deliver on its pipeline of projects, including delivering Fibre to the Home with BSkyB and TalkTalk.
CityFibre shares were trading 0.7% lower Friday morning at 76.50 pence per share.
The placing was led by finnCap and Liberum, who were acting as joint brokers.
By Rowena Harris-Doughty; [email protected]; @rharrisdoughty
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