Virgin Media nearly doubles loss in 3Q

LONDON - U.K. cable and telecommunications company Virgin Media Inc. nearly doubled its net loss in the third quarter, as the surge in the U.S. dollar forced it to book a large non-cash charge on $1 billion in debt.

The company, whose largest shareholder is Richard Branson's Virgin Entertainment group with 10.4 percent, said its net loss grew to 120.8 million pounds ($192 million), or 37 pence per share.

Its net loss a year earlier was 61 million pounds, or 19 pence per share.

The stronger U.S. dollar caused a 104.7 million pound loss, because the company did not hedge $1 billion in convertible senior notes against currency movements.

Revenue fell 1.5 percent to 991.1 million pounds ($1.58 billion) from 1 billion pounds a year ago.

Operating income before depreciation, amortization, goodwill impairment and restructuring and other charges fell 4.8 percent to 325 million pounds ($517.6 million) from 342 million pounds a year ago.

Morgan Stanley analyst David Gober said Virgin's earnings report was in line with expectations. He forecast operating income of 325 million pounds on revenue of 996 million pounds.

The results "reaffirm our view that the fundamental business is improving as we head into 2009," he wrote in an analyst note. "We continue to expect improved pricing power for the overall market despite economic weakness."

Shares fell 39 cents or 6.3 percent, to $5.85 on the Nasdaq Stock Market in midday trading Thursday.

Virgin, created through several mergers including that of the former cable operators NTL Inc. and Telewest and the mobile operator Virgin Mobile, was relaunched in February 2007 to become Britain's first media company to offer mobile phone, fixed-line phone, Internet broadband and TV services.

The company said it added 185,200 new customers across all its services, boosting its net subscriber rolls from the second quarter by 1.7 percent to 12.2 million.

"In the face of a slowdown in the general economy, our business has shown good resilience," said Chief Executive Neil Berkett in a statement.

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