Davis

Cable and Wireless' head of Caribbean operations has dismissed claims that Rodney Davis, chief executive of the Jamaica operation, was facing the axe within the next year.

"I would be the person who would tell Rodney that you only have two years," said C&W Panama CEO, Chris Hetherington, who is also head of Cable and Wireless in the Caribbean.

"I haven't done that. On the contrary, I have said to Rodney, 'It is a great business in Jamaica with a lot of potetntial; turn it as fast as you can ...'," said Heatherington in response to Financial Gleaner questions during a conference call with Caribbean journalists into the company's U.K. offices.

Speculation about Davis' tenure at Cable and Wireless Jamaica, which has had three CEO's in three years, began to swirl after its accounts reflected poor financial performance.

Thumbs up

But Heatherington gave Davis the thumbs up, saying, "He is doing the right things." Sources inside C&WJ also indicated that Davis had been telegraphing renewed confidence to staff following his trip to the U.K. this week to meet with his bosses.

Yesterday, Davis, a participant in the conference call, suggested that he would remain with the company for some time.

"We have a long term incentive plan to maxi-mise benefits to our shareholders by 2009. I wouldn't see a horizon that ends before that ... certainly not during my tenure," he said.

He has run the local telecoms for a year, replacing Briton, Jacqueline Holding, in August 2004. Holding, whose tenure lasted 10 months, had been the replacement for Barrow who had been appointed to the job in 1999.

business@gleanerjm.com