TELECOMS provider LIME Jamaica benefited from double-digit sales growth during Christmas but its net loss jumped to $1.9 billion for the December third quarter 2014 or five times higher than a year earlier, financials indicated.

Core activities at the company are, however, growing as its EBITDA (earning before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation) profit jumped to $1.2 billion up 41 per cent higher year-on-year.

“Our results for the nine months ended December 31, 2014, benefited from an excellent Christmas campaign and selling season where the Huawei Y330 smartphone was the runaway sales champion,” stated Garfield Sinclair, CEO of LIME Jamaica, in the preface of the financials released Friday.

“Our formula for consistently improving our financial performance will remain focused on providing customer service excellence, expanding access to fixed and wireless data networks and challenging our colleagues to be even more efficient than they have been in the past,” Sinclair added.

Over 12 months ending March 2014 LIME Jamaica made a net loss of $3.5 billion. Interestingly, loss-making LIME offered the highest returns to investors in 2014 based on its 200 per cent price gain on the Jamaica Stock Exchange (JSE).

The stock benefited from sales growth but also the Flow merger announcement. Last November LIME’s parent Cable & Wireless Plc announced plans to purchase 100 per cent equity of Columbus International Inc for US$1.85 billion.

Since the announcement CWC raised gross proceeds of US$180 million from the placing of new shares and US$690 million from new loans to finance the acquisition.

In February, CWC indicated that it expects to finalise the acquisition of Columbus by next month.