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Colt Group to trim carrier voice division, take charge

(Reuters) - Telecoms provider Colt Group SA said it would withdraw about 85 percent of its carrier voice contracts over the next few months and expected a 175 million euros (143 million pounds) fall in revenue in the unit. The company, which runs fibre optic networks and data centres for large and mid-sized companies, said it expected about half the reduction in revenue to take place this year. Colt's voice business has been under pressure over the past year due to pricing cuts by EU regulators. The company warned that 2014 EBITDA (before restructuring charges) would be 5 to 10 percent below consensus estimates of 325 million euros. However, it said the rationalisation of its voice operations would have an immaterial impact on earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) in 2014, but improve group profit margins over the next few years. The company also expects to incur restructuring charges of about 30 million euros related to the rationalisation in the second half of this year. (Reporting by Noor Zainab Hussain in Bangalore; Editing by Gopakumar Warrier)