Grid loses £290m in Latin America

AN ill-fated foray into Latin American telecommunications has cost National Grid £290m. The write-down sent the power transmission utility plunging £103m into the red in the six months to September from a restated £307m profit last time.

Chief executive Roger Urwin said: 'It is a very disappointing outcome. But quite frankly things emerged that were completely unforeseeable.' No heads had rolled, he added.

The losses were due to three investments in Latin America in 1999 and 2000 when the telecoms market was booming.

The biggest was a 50% stake in Intelig, Brazil's second-largest national carrier. National Grid has written down the stake by £100m and revealed that its share of operating losses was another £22m in the first half.

National Grid and the two other shareholders, France Télécom and Sprint, have appointed UBS Warburg to try to sell the business. There will also be writedowns on Silica Networks, a carrier's carrier in Argentina, and Manquehue net, a telecoms business in Chile.

Urwin said the company's overall move into telecoms had still been a huge success for shareholders.