Context: How Eastern Caribbean Securities Exchange works, and what it makes issuers disclose · St Kitts and Nevis on the LatAm Power Map
A small Caribbean nation’s sole fixed and mobile telephone network, Cable & Wireless St Kitts & Nevis has quietly minted cash for decades — yet its controlling parent is far away in Bermuda, and its regulator recently handed it a fine for going quiet on its own shareholders.
| Full name | Cable & Wireless St Kitts & Nevis Limited |
| Ticker / exchange | CWKN — Eastern Caribbean Securities Exchange (ECSE) |
| Headquarters | Needsmust Estate, Basseterre, St Kitts and Nevis |
| Sector | Telecommunications |
| Employees | ~49 (last disclosed, year-end March 2016) |
| Shares issued | 33,130,418 ordinary shares |
| Market value (market cap) | XCD 124.9M / ~US$124.9M (at XCD 3.77 per share, our calculation) |
| Revenue (9 months to Sept 30, 2024) | XCD 57.7M / ~US$57.7M (annualised ~XCD 77.0M / ~US$77.0M, our calculation) |
| Net profit (9 months to Sept 30, 2024) | XCD 13.4M / ~US$13.4M |
| Net margin (9 months 2024) | 23.1% (our calculation) |
| Return on equity (annualised, our calculation) | ~10.5% |
| Price-to-earnings (annualised, our calculation) | ~7.0× |
| Dividend yield | Not disclosed in available sources (no dividend declared in 2024 filings reviewed) |
| Website | discoverflow.co/saint-kitts/ |
What it is
C&W St Kitts & Nevis is the provider of mobile and fixed telecommunications services in the Federation of St Kitts & Nevis, operating under a 15-year non-exclusive telecommunications licensing agreement granted by the Government of the Federation of St Kitts & Nevis from an effective date of December 11, 2021. In a two-island federation of roughly 50,000 people, it is effectively the national network — handling your phone call, internet connection, and cable TV service.
The company is a public limited liability company incorporated in St Kitts and Nevis on October 1st, 1985, under the Companies Act (Cap 335). It was listed on the Eastern Caribbean Securities Exchange on January 31, 2008.
Who owns it
C&W St Kitts & Nevis is a 77%-owned subsidiary of C&W West Indies, which is a wholly-owned subsidiary of Liberty Latin America, a registered public company in Bermuda. Liberty Latin America — the same group that operates cable and mobile networks across the Caribbean and Central America — therefore controls the company through this chain; the remaining 23% is held by the general public, traded on the ECSE.
Who runs it
The ECSRC’s issuer register lists Ms Lorraine Mitchell as General Manager and Mr Michael Davis as Manager Finance & Company Secretary. The board includes Ms Susanna O’Sullivan, Mr Alex Bremner, Mrs Christine Morris Gillespie, Ms Lyra Richards, and Mr Osbert Liburd.
No separate Chair or CFO is named in available filings; Mr Davis carries the company-secretary and finance function together.
The money, in plain words
In the first nine months of 2024 the company collected XCD 57.7M (~US$57.7M) in sales — up about 4.6% on the same period a year earlier (XCD 55.2M / ~US$55.2M), a revenue-growth rate of 4.6% (our calculation). It kept XCD 13.4M (~US$13.4M) of that as profit — roughly 23 cents from every Eastern Caribbean dollar of sales, a net profit margin of 23.1% (our calculation), which is high for a telecoms operator in a small market.
For every dollar of owners’ equity in the business, it earns back about 10.5 cents a year — a return on equity of approximately 10.5% (annualised, our calculation), modest but steady. At the current share price of XCD 3.77, (US$4)the entire company is valued at XCD 124.9M (~US$124.9M, our calculation), just over 7 times annual earnings — a price-to-earnings ratio of roughly 7×, which is low by regional and global telecoms standards.
The balance sheet as of September 30, 2024 shows total assets of XCD 228.4M (~US$228.4M) against total equity of XCD 175.9M (~US$175.9M) — meaning the business is financed almost entirely by its own earnings, with very little outside debt. That financial conservatism is a strength, but it also reflects a business that pays management fees upward to its parent rather than deploying capital independently.
What it is doing now
The most recent regulatory event is a fine of XCD 100,000 (~US$100,000) imposed by the Eastern Caribbean Securities Regulatory Commission (ECSRC) on the company for breaching the securities continuing-disclosure obligations under the Securities Act. The fine signals that the company has been late or incomplete in publishing information its minority public shareholders are legally owed — a governance concern worth watching.
On the operating side, the nine-month 2024 figures show a one-off impairment and restructuring charge of XCD 2.9M (~US$2.9M) that weighed on the third quarter; stripping that out, underlying trading remains profitable and cash-generative, with net cash from operations of XCD 21.4M (~US$21.4M) over nine months (our calculation from cash-flow statement).
What to watch
- Full-year 2024 results and any dividend declaration — the company paid no dividend in 2023 or in the periods reviewed; minority shareholders will be looking for a resumption.
- Disclosure compliance — the ECSRC fine for breaching disclosure rules is a red flag; watch whether filings become more timely in 2025.
- Licence renewal environment — the current 15-year non-exclusive licence runs from December 2021; non-exclusive means competition can enter, which would pressure both prices and margins.
- Liberty Latin America strategy — the ultimate parent has been restructuring its Caribbean portfolio; any sale or merger of the C&W West Indies subsidiary would directly affect CWKN.
Sources
- Eastern Caribbean Securities Regulatory Commission (ECSRC) — Issuer Detail: Cable & Wireless St Kitts & Nevis Ltd (directors, officers, incorporation date, fine notice): https://www.ecsrc.com/cauth/users/reporting_issuer_details/94
- ECSRC — Cable & Wireless St Kitts & Nevis Limited, Management Report / Condensed Financial Information, Nine Months Ended September 30, 2024 (revenue, net income, balance sheet): https://www.ecsrc.com/img/WorkflowsDocument/1730304007_St_Kitts_and_Nevis_Q3_2024_Report_Managerment_Report.pdf
- Eastern Caribbean Securities Exchange (ECSE) — CWKN listed-company page (headquarters, contact, current share price): https://www.ecseonline.com/cwkn/
- ECSE — Cable & Wireless (St Kitts and Nevis) Limited Financial Statements, Year Ended 31 March 2016 (ownership structure, incorporation, employee count, historical financials): https://www.ecseonline.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/08/Cable-and-Wireless-St-Kitts-2016-Financial-Statements.pdf
- Market data: EODHD.
This is news, not investment advice.
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