STOCKHOLM (AFP) - The Swedish-Finnish telecommunications operator TeliaSonera reported a record profit in the third quarter despite stagnant sales as associated companies posted a tripling of income.
Net profit more than doubled to 4.32 billion kronor (477 million euros, 610 million dollars) on sales up just 2.7 percent to 2.29 billion kronor.
Income from associated companies rose to 1.37 billion kronor from 419 million a year ago, while a doubling of operating profit from the group's activities in Finland, from 497 million kronor to 1.0 billion, also boosted results.
TeliaSonera chief executive Anders Igel said he was pleased with the earnings.
"In a very competitive market we show the strongest quarterly result in the history of the company" created in 2002 following the merger of Swedish and Finnish state operators Telia and Sonera.
The company said its earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortization (EBITDA) rose by 9.6 percent to 8,3 billion kronor, while operating profit soared by 82 percent to 6.66 billion kronor and pre-tax profit jumped by 78 percent to 5.98 billion kronor.
The results were far above analysts forecasts of an EBITDA excluding exceptional items of 7.44 billion kronor and a pre-tax profit of 4.90 billion kronor.
The price of the TeliaSonera share soared on the Stockholm Stock Exchange, jumping more than six percent on the news.
TeliaSonera said it plans to strengthen its activities and either increase or maintain its position on its current markets.
It expects the Nordic region to be characterized by strong sustained volume growth in the years to come amid fierce competition and continuing price pressure which is expected to have a negative impact on revenues.
In addition, it plans to take advantage of its "very strong growth" in its Eastern markets Turkey, Russia and Eurasia, where it registered four million new customers in the third quarter from the previous quarter.
The operator said it had a total of 13.6 million mobile clients, about half of whom were in Sweden and Finland, as well as 1.8 million Internet clients and eight millions fixed line customers.
It expects migration from fixed to mobile and internet-based services to accelerate.
10/27/2004 - 10:38 GMT - AFP