ntl Ireland sold by US parent company

ntl Ireland has been sold by its US parent company to MS Irish Cable Holdings, in a deal worth €325m.

Irish Cable Holdings is a subsidiary of Morgan Stanley, the investment bank which acted as advisor to United Global Com (UGC) on the purchase of ntl Ireland.

Morgan Stanley is expected to sell ntl Ireland to UGC once the regulatory issues have been settled.

Ntl Ireland provides digital and analogue cable television services to homes in Dublin, Waterford and Galway, and broadband in parts of Dublin. The company also offered business telecommunications services, including voice, data and internet products.

Revenue in Ireland in the first quarter was £19.2m (€28.1m), ntl announced today, up 9.7% over the same period last year. Residential customers increased by about 2,400 to reach 350,100. Monthly customer churn declined to 0.7%, compared to 1.1% during the same period last year. Digital television subscriber numbers grew to 102,000, an increase of 31% over the same period last year.

Ntl bought its Irish operation, which has around 350,000 subscribers, from eircom and RTE in 1999 for €680m.

Its sale allows the company to focus on building its UK cable business, ntl boss Simon Duffy said today.

Overall, the company's first quarter revenue was £517.3m (€757.7m), up 0.7% compared to the prior year period, due primarily to an increase in consumer revenue.