LOSS-MAKING Irish broadband and digital television provider Magnet Networks received an equity injection of €55 million earlier this year from its United States-based parent.
Mark Kellett, Magnet's chief executive, said the fresh funding from Colombia Ventures Corporation (CVC) would enable the Dublin-based group "accelerate the growth of the business".
Accounts just filed for Magnet show that it made a loss of €19.2 million in 2007, bringing its accumulated losses to €41.1 million.
The accounts show that Magnet had a "potential deferred tax asset" of €4.97 million as a result of trading losses incurred to date.
Magnet owed CVC €63.7 million at the end of December 2007, up from €44 million a year earlier.
Mr Kellett, who joined Magnet in October 2007, said the company was now on track to break even in 2009.
"Last year was about continued heavy investment," he said. "This year the aim is to bring the losses down month by month with the clear expectation of reaching earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation breakeven in early '09."
Mr Kellett said Magnet has some 6,000 corporate broadband customers and provides web hosting and e-mail services to another 4,000 business clients.
He added that its residential telephony products are available to some 12,000 homes.
Mr Kellett declined to say how many residential customers the company has here for its triple-play bundled telephone, broadband and TV services.
At the end of 2007, Magnet had unbundled 38 Eircom exchanges and had a large fibre-based network in Dublin, Galway, Cork, Limerick, Waterford and Portlaoise.
Magnet's accounts show that its interest payments doubled to €4.8 million last year.
The company's average number of employees rose to 137 in 2007 from 106 a year earlier, while staff costs increased to €7.2 million from €4.8 million in 2006.
Magnet's accounts also state that its wholly-owned business-to-business subsidiary Netsource Ltd made a profit of €210,561 in 2007.
Netsource's equity shareholders deficit at the end of last year was €3.2 million.
"This company has significant potential," Mr Kellett said."We're looking to position ourselves as a serious alternative to Eircom."
