Hong Kong, March 29 (Bloomberg) -- Pacific Century CyberWorks Ltd., Hong Kong's biggest phone company, fell to a record low after announcing a worse-than-expected loss for 2000. CyberWorks shares fell as much as 14 percent in early trading to HK$2.975, the lowest price since the company completed the acquisition of Cable & Wireless HKT Ltd. last August. The stock recently traded down 11 percent at HK$3.10.

The company said it lost $886 million last year as its plan to use income from fixed-line services to pay for high-risk Internet expansion faltered. The result exceeded the worst forecast of a $334 million loss in a Bloomberg survey of seven analysts.

The loss reflected $667 million of charges mainly related to a writedown of the value of its Internet investments. Earnings were crimped by net interest charges of $302 million, mainly related to debt it raised for its $28 billion purchase of HKT.

Bloomberg

-- spider (spider0@usa.net), March 28, 2001