German telecommunications operator Deutsche Telekom reported a 7.9 per cent rise in quarterly net profit yesterday and stood by its underlying operating profit target for 2010.
The group said net profit rose to €1.035 billion in the third quarter and that it would make an adjusted core operating profit of €20 billion for the year as a whole. But sales fell by 4.1 per cent on a 12-month comparison to €15.6 billion after the results from the British mobile telecoms unit were stripped out. This was because that business had been merged with one owned by France Telecom. The results were in line or slightly better than expected by analysts. Those polled by Dow Jones Newswires forecast a quarterly profit of €913 million and €15.57 billion in sales. Deutsche Telekom’s adjusted core earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation (Ebitda), which the company uses in forecasts, fell by 9.02 per cent to €5.02 billion.