SYDNEY, (MILLAT/APP/AFP) –
Australia’s dominant telecommunications company Telstra Thursday reported a surprise slump in first-half profit with its fixed-line and mobile businesses taking a hit amid increased competition and a shift towards digital.
Net profit after tax for the six months to December 31 fell 14.4
percent to Aus$1.79 billion (US$1.38 billion) from the previous corresponding period.
The figure sent Telstra’s share price tumbling 4.43 percent to
Aus$4.96 in mid-day trade in Sydney.
“It’s a weak result… you’ve got revenue and underlying profit all
missing (market expectations) by a decent chunk,” IG Markets chief strategist Chris Weston told AFP.
“The implied volatility in a stock like Telstra is so low that this
is as big a miss you are going to get.”
Revenue for fixed-line services dropped by 4.7 percent and by 8.7
percent for mobile services for the period. Overall sales revenue dipped by 3.4 percent to Aus$12.79 billion.
The company declared an interim dividend of 15.5 Aus cents.
Chief executive Andrew Penn said Telstra had “performed well in a
highly competitive market”.
“Data volumes have increased and intense competition on pricing
across fixed, bundles, mobile, data and IP has had an impact.