LONDON (Bloomberg) — Cable & Wireless Plc, the UK's second-biggest phone company, is considering splitting the company or selling assets after the stock price slumped.

"We will look at all of the options," finance director Tony Rice told reporters on a conference call yesterday. The company may break itself up, sell some businesses or borrow money to return capital to shareholders, he said.

Cable & Wireless stock had lost 18 percent this year before yesterday as analysts questioned whether it would meet the sales growth target for the Europe, Asia and US unit. Net income in the year ended March 31 dropped 5.7 percent to £164 million ($323 million), the company said yesterday in a statement.

Profit was predicted at £ £168.2 million, the average of six analyst estimates compiled by Bloomberg. Sales fell 5.9 percent to £3.15 billion, missing the average estimate of £3.2 billion pounds.

Operating profit jumped 23 percent. The results give the Bracknell, England-based company's board the option to consider further "value realisation" for shareholders, Cable & Wireless said.

Cable & Wireless rose 3.1 pence, or two percent, to 155.6 pence at 10 a.m. in London trading. The stock's 18 percent drop this year is worse than the FTSE All-Share Telecommunications Index.

Rice also said Cable & Wireless was committed to reducing risk at the company's pension fund.

"We are well advanced in discussions with not just de-risking the pension fund but managing that security," Rice said. "We don't think it's a barrier to value realisation."

Earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization, excluding some costs, for the year rose to £605 million from £492 million a year earlier. Including costs, Ebitda rose to £552 million from £414 million.

The company forecast Ebitda for the year ending March 2009 of £702 million to £725 million.

Ebitda for Europe, Asia and the U.S. division for the current year will be £285 million to £295 million, while for international division it will be between £895 million and £910 million.

In March, the company forecast sales at its Europe, Asia and US division would increase five percent to eight percent annually for the next five years

Cable & Wireless forecast in January full-year Ebitda for the entire company would be £585 million to £610 million, up 19 percent to 24 percent from 2007.

London-based BT Group Plc is the UK's largest phone company.