Brazil's Telebras Posts 34% Rise In Net Profit, 25% Jump In Sales
Dow Jones Online News, Tuesday, December 23, 1997 at 14:08
SAO PAULO, Brazil -(Dow Jones)- Brazilian federal telecommunications holding company Telecomunicacoes Brasileiras SA, or Telebras, reported Tuesday a 34% rise in net profit on a 25% increase in sales for the first 11 months of the year.
Telebras (TBR) said the net profit rose to 3.95 billion reals $3.55 billion) in the first 11 months ended Nov. 30, compared with 2.94 billion reals in the year-ago period.
Sales grew to 18.72 billion reals from 14.96 billion reals, while operating profit was up 26% to 14.29 billion reals from 11.33 billion reals.
Telebras didn't provide commentary to explain its improved results.
The Brazilian government plans to privatize Telebras next year, in one of the biggest telecommunications sell-offs ever. The telephone monopoly will be divided into three regional fixed-line subsidiaries and nine cellular companies under a recently unveiled outline of the privatization plan.
The government's Telebras stake, which includes just over 50% of the voting stock and 21% of the entire capital stock, has been valued by analysts at between $16 billion and $20 billion.
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