Another round of job cuts at Cable & Wireless

The telecoms carrier will close its headquarters in London, where it employs 300 people, and relocate staff to its operational base in Bracknell. The company will also change the structure of its UK business as part of attempts to cope with challenging trading conditions in its home market.

The announcement came as C&W announced a £14 million rise in underlying half-year profits to £199 million, despite a fall in revenues to £1.62 billion, from £1.73 billion a year earlier.

Cable & Wireless has already reduced headcount dramatically, cutting staff numbers in the UK by 23% over the last 18 months to about 4,300. It has not disclosed the exact locations of today's planned job losses.

Chief executive Francesco Caio, who is half way through a three-year restructuring, will now take direct operational control of the UK business as he looks to drive the company's expansion in growth areas such as broadband.

He will also reorganise the UK business into four customer-focused segments and create a single unit to deal with operational activities.

Revenues in the UK arm fell 1% to £814 million in the six months to September 30, a decline driven by a 12% drop in business revenues. However, C&W turned in UK operating profits before exceptionals of £36 million, compared with losses of £9 million a year earlier as cost cuts offset ongoing price pressures.

As well as London and Bracknell, the group has UK operations in Manchester and Milton Keynes and Birmingham. Since Mr Caio's appointment 18 months ago, the company has pulled out of the US market in order to focus on the UK and its Caribbean-based national telecoms operations.

Mr Caio said the group now had a better control of cash resources, particularly in the UK, and that it was better equipped to cope in the increasingly competitive telecoms market.

However, he warned market conditions were likely to remain challenging in all its businesses over the second half of the financial year.