Revenue routed at Cable & Wireless

Cable & Wireless will this week warn of a continued rout in telecoms as it reveals that revenues at its biggest business unit have fallen.

Coming after three successive profit warnings, the trading statement will pile the pressure on C&W's chief executive Graham Wallace to halt the decline or resign.

The company refused to confirm when the statement will be published, but well-placed sources said it will be early this week and could show a 7-8 per cent revenue fall at its Global division.

Global provides telecoms services to large companies. While it accounts for around 70 per cent of C&W's revenues, it is loss-making. Mr Wallace is betting on an upturn in the telecoms market in 2004 and hopes that by then Global will be in a position to dominate the market.

C&W is also expected to announce big cost cuts. Some analysts think 1,000 jobs will go.

While the trading statement will contain bad news, it won't be classed as a profit warning because when C&W last made a prediction on its trading, it offered an unusually wide range of targets.