CityFibre gets revenue boost but losses grow
CityFibre saw its revenues rocket last year but failed to stem rising losses on its bottom line, the firm revealed this morning.
The fibre optic specialist is the largest independent provider of fibre infrastructure in the UK, with a focus on Britain’s mid-sized cities, including York, Coventry and Doncaster.
The firm’s specialisation in pure fibre networking allows it to deliver speeds measured in gigabytes rather than the megabytes experienced from average broadband.
The company raised £46m in equity after listing on the alternative investment market (Aim) in January last year and secured £11m in new contracts, helping it expand its fibre optic networks by 91 per cent to 540kms.
Company revenues surged 105 per cent during 2014 to £3.8m, however this was not enough to prevent a pre-tax loss for the period of £7m, an increase from £6.2m in 2013.
A large part of the increased losses was attributed to a near doubling of administration costs during the period, which increased to £11m as staff overheads leapt 32 per cent.
The company said it continued to gain significant traction during the first quarter of this year while its pipeline of anticipated projects is larger than anticipated. Chief executive Greg Mesch said: “We have started 2015 well, the business is strongly capitalised and well positioned.”