The elevated debt load on automatic teller machine operator Customers Limited continues to be a drag on earnings, though cost cuts mean the firm is finally in the black on an EBIT basis. Customers yesterday reported that it reduced its loss to $7 million in the half-year to December 2008 from a previous $22.5 million loss. Revenue declined four per cent to $40 million. The firm reported an EBIT of $1.8 million compared with an EBIT loss of $5.6 million a year earlier. At the EBITDA level profit improved to $9.5 million from $7.8 million. New banking facilities late last year from Bendigo and Adelaide Bank, which owns 10 per cent of Customers and is also a joint venture partner in Strategic Payments Services, enabled Customers to pay down some of the primary debt to Commonwealth Bank. Customers' business model is predicated on the boost to revenue once convenience charging comes into force next month at ATMs, though the transition is becoming increasingly murky as major banks decide to retain, though at a reduced level, the "foreign" ATM fees the new charging principles were intended to eliminate.