Vienna - Austria's formerly state-owned telecom operator Telekom Austria reported an 18.7-per-cent decrease in net profits to 173.7 million euros (255 million dollars) for the third quarter of 2007. Earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization (EBITDA) was down 5.4 per cent to 521.2 million euros compared with the previous quarter, Telekom Austria said on Wednesday.
Sales revenue rose by 3.6 per cent to 1.28 billion euros, while profits per share were down 13.7 per cent to 0.39 euros.
The acquisition of the Belarusian mobile phone operator MDC in the previous quarter improved Telekom Austria's profile in the emerging CEE markets and would increase sales by 3 per cent this year, the company said.
The acquisition was also responsible for part of the profit drop, as was the unexpected high number of customers cancelling their landlines.
Profits for the first nine months of 2007 were down by 9.4 per cent to 451.5 million euros, EBITDA decreased by 4.7 per cent to 1.46 billion euros.
Sales were up 2 per cent to 3.63 billion euros compared with the same period last year.
Telekom Austria expects net profits to drop by 8 per cent in 2008.
