Numbers improve at TelstraClear

By PETER GRIFFIN

A year under hard-nosed chief executive Rosemary Howard appears to have paid off for the country's second-largest telco, TelstraClear.

The company, 58 per cent owned by Telstra, made an operating profit of $57 million in the six months to December 31, Telstra accounts reveal.

TelstraClear's bottom-line loss for the period was A$48 million ($51.5 million), an improvement from the $137 million loss it posted in the seven months after its creation in December 2001. For that period, TelstraClear was $18 million in the black at an operating level, but burdened with restructuring costs.

Deep cost-cutting contributed to a healthier result in the second half. Capital expenditure was cut 50 per cent to $55 million compared with the previous six months.

Revenue was $325 million.