Cantv Q2 Net Profit Down 16%

Venezuelan telco Cantv saw its second quarter profit fall 16% to 95.6bn bolívares (US$44.5mn) compared to 114bn bolívares in 2Q05 due to an increase in operating income offset by lower income tax benefits and lower exchange rate gains, the company said in a statement.

Cantv's revenues climbed 34% to 1.59tn bolívares from 1.19tn bolívares in the same period last year.

Ebitda increased 12.5% to 305bn bolívares from 271bn bolívares registered in 2Q05. Ebitda margins fell to 19% from 23% a year earlier.

This quarterly growth was mainly driven by 68.8% and 14% increases in mobile and fixed line revenues, respectively, compared to the first quarter of 2006, the company said.

A strong component of the fixed line revenue growth was 66.5% growth in broadband subscribers to 379,311 subscribers compared to 228,073 in 2Q05.

The growth in the mobile segment was mainly due to an increase in the number of subscribers and higher traffic.

At the end of June Cantv had 6.57 million mobile subscribers, up 82.7% year-on-year and 3.54 million fixed lines, up 10.8% from the same period last year.

BNAmericas.com"

Posted to the site on 28th July 2006