NTL on course to leave bankruptcy protection

Cable operator NTL said it was on course to come out of Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection this month as its financial shake-up nears completion.

The US parent of NTL filed for Chapter 11 earlier this year after mounting debts of £12bn (€18.9bn) forced it to carry out the life-saving refinancing.

The group plans to become two businesses, NTL UK and Ireland and NTL Euroco, with nearly €11bn of debt converted to equity.

However, NTL is currently locked in talks to finalise €500m of new financing from certain bondholders.

But president and chief executive Barclay Knapp said today the group was on track to quit Chapter 11 at the end of this month.

“We’ve all but buttoned up the final terms,” he said. “The sticking points behind the negotiations were that the terms were very general and there was some pushing and pulling on some of that.

“But we’re confident we’ve got the best deal going forward.”

Mr Knapp added he was confident the group would start growing again once the refinancing was completed.

But NTL also revealed today it was seeking to axe 250 jobs.

Mr Knapp insisted it was not a major redundancy programme, and said the cuts would be in “tens and thirties” across all operations and all locations.

However, the latest round of cuts will take NTL’s headcount down to around 13,000 for UK and Ireland and means the group has axed around 8,000 jobs over the last two years.

Today’s update came as NTL showed how control of costs had lifted third-quarter earnings before tax, interest and one-off costs despite a dip in revenues.