France Telecom 1st-Half Profit Rises 16% on Surge in Mobiles
By Daniel Tilles at Bloomberg News
15 September 1999
France Telecom SA, Europe's second-largest phone company,
said first-half profit rose 16 percent, boosted by growth in its
mobile telephone business.
Profit from operations for the first six months rose to 2.5 billion
euros ($2.6 billion) from 2.2 billion euros a year ago. Profit from
operations from the company's mobile unit more than
quadrupled, soaring to 374 million euros from 70 million in the
year-earlier period.
France Telecom, along with rivals across Europe, is benefiting
from booming cellular phone and Internet use. It expects to
have 8 million mobile phone clients by the end of the year, up
from 5.45 million at the end of 1998. Subscribers to its
Wanadoo Internet service should more than double to 1
million.
"Their volume growth is very good and is led by their Internet
and mobile services," Jonathan Shantry, an analyst with Credit
Lyonnais Securities in London, said before the earnings were
released and who rates the shares "buy." "The full benefit of
the growth in mobile won't be felt, however, until 2000 due to
the lag in applying the revenue to earnings."
France Telecom shares closed down 0.15 euros, or 0.2 percent,
at 73.85 euros ($76.66) in Paris. In New York, the company's
American depositary receipts fell as much as 3/4, or 0.97%, to
76 1/4.
The company reported first-half figures after the close of
trading at the French stock market.
The biggest phone company in Europe is Germany's Deutsche
Telekom AG.
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