Colt Telecom has improved its finances even though revenues failed to grow, the telco said today. Publishing the latest batch of numbers for the three months to March, Colt reported that revenue was flat at £307m compared to the same period last year.

At the same time, pre-tax losses narrowed to £7.3m down from £28.4m.

Earlier this year, Colt revealed plans to overhaul its corporate structure in a bid to generate profit.

As part of those plans, it announced that it planned to domicile its business in mainland Europe and today confirmed that it has selected Luxembourg as its new home. The reason for shunting the company to the Continent, Colt said, is that with more than 80 per cent of its business and 90 per cent of its network assets in mainland Europe, it maintains that such a move makes sense.

Speaking today, Colt chairman Barry Bateman reiterated earlier statements that the market for telecoms remains tough.

"The markets in which Colt operates continue to be challenging," he said adding that compared to a year ago, "the financial performance of the company has nevertheless improved". ®