Liberty Global Inc., the largest owner of cable-television systems outside the U.S., posted a loss for the fourth quarter after the company sold assets in countries that included France and Norway.
The net loss was $31.2 million, 8 cents a share, compared with net income of $145.3 million, 30 cents a share, a year earlier, Doug las County-based Liberty Global said Thursday in a statement.
Sales rose 39 percent to $1.79 billion to beat expectations.
Liberty Global, chaired by John Malone, is exiting slower-growing markets in Western Europe to invest in Eastern Europe, where demand is rising. The company last year sold its Norwegian, Swedish and French businesses. This year, it completed a $427 million acquisition of Karneval, the second-largest cable operator in the Czech Republic.
The 8-cent-a-share loss, from continuing operations, was narrower than the 15-cent average estimate of three analysts compiled by Bloomberg.
