NTL has reported a profit of £115 million for the second quarter - two weeks ahead of schedule.

The British cable TV company announced the figure in a statement last night and is due to report its full financial results for the quarter on July 26.

It also said that its full year results for 2001 were expected to be £100 million higher than previously forecast.

The early announcement was a bid to quash fears over the company's slumping share price (in the last week alone NTL's share price has almost halved), and its debts. At the end of the last quarter it had around $15 billion of debt.

"Our current operating results are very strong and we have always had great confidence in the future," said NTL CEO Barclay Knapp.

"In our upcoming presentation we will be describing how our increasingly strong performance will make our current funding sufficient for us to reach free cash flow positive by the end of 2003."

NTL's share price yesterday closed on Nasdaq at $5.29, down 6.7 per cent and valuing the company at around $1.4 billion. ®

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