Bigblu Broadband boss resigns after buying Norwegian assets from company

Bigblu Broadband's share price dropped sharply on Monday after the rural broadband provider reported a drop in annual revenues and announced the immediate exit of its founder and chief executive officer as it offloaded its Norwegian operations.

As the company doubles down on its Australian operations, it is selling its Norwegian assets for £1.3m to the regional management team, which includes boss Andrew Walwyn – though the equity value will be nominal after the buyers assume certain existing net working capital creditors and contingent liabilities.

Walwyn resigned immediately to prevent any conflicts of interest, though he remains a major shareholders of BBB, having founded the business in 2008. He will be succeeded by chief financial officer Frank Waters.

"The disposal is in line with BBB's strategy of divesting of its assets and reducing risk attached to the potential future cash flows of the group," the company said.

The news came as BBB reported total revenues of £30.1m for the year ended 30 November 2023, down from £31.2m. Excluding the Norwegian operations, revenues would have been £25.9m down from £27.2m the year before.

Adjusted EBITDA for the continuing operations was £4.5m, up from £4.1m previously, which the company said was helped by "cost initiatives".

Shares were down nearly 10% at 38p by 1148 BST.