Telewest 'in good shape'

CABLE operator Telewest Communications has reported bigger losses for the last year. But the group, which employs 500 staff on Tyneside, said it was in "good fundamental shape" with turnover and revenue-per-household up.

The former FTSE 100 company, which has debts of £5.1bn, showed for the year to December 31 losses before one-off charges increased to £801m from £706m the previous year. The bottom-line loss showed a greater increase to £1.9bn - against £701m the previous year - after writing down £1.1bn on the value of its programming arm Flextech. Flextech was bought at the height of the technology boom in April 2000, in a deal which valued it at £2.3bn. The figures included no news on the mounting speculation that Telewest could be about to merge with ntl, which employs 400 staff on Teesside.

£2.6bn Corus: Steelmaker Corus could bounce back into the FTSE 100 Index following next week's quarterly shake up of the blue chip benchmark. The group, which has axed thousands of jobs after being hit by harsh competition and a strong pound, has seen shares rally over the past few months. Corus, formerly known as British Steel, is now valued at about £2.6bn - double its value last September.

SUCCESS marked: Less than three months after it was saved by a management buy-out, South Shields printed circuit board manufacturer Circatex has won a business award. The company picked up a special achievement award at the South Tyneside Enterprise Partnership (Step) business and community awards, for its work in saving 850 jobs in the borough. The company was launched in December following a successful management buy-out of the former Viasystems printed circuit board (PCB) operation on South Tyneside.

PROFITS RISE: Pubs group JD Wetherspoon has toasted a rise in half-year profits as sales of food and drinks surged ahead. Like-for-like sales at the Watford-based chain were up 5.5 per cent in the six months to January 27, while food sales were ten per cent ahead. It meant group turnover moved ahead 26 per cent to £285.2m, while pre-tax profits were up 22 per cent at £24.9m.