KPN records EUR 375m profit

10 May 2004

AMSTERDAM — Dutch telecoms firm KPN recorded a EUR 375 million profit in the first quarter of 2004, much lower than EUR 770 million profit for the same period last year. But the 2003 was boosted by EUR 672 million in book profits.

A book profit is profit which has been made but not yet realised through a transaction, such as a stock which has risen in value but is still being held.

KPN said in presently its quarterly figures on Monday that turnover remained relatively unchanged at EUR 2.9 billion, news agency nu.nl reported.

The company’s mobile phone division reported a 6.9 percent rise in turnover to about EUR 1.1 billion due largely to strong performances by KPN’s German subsidiary E-Plus (12.5 percent increase in turnover) and the Belgian subsidiary base (38.9 percent increase).

But the landline division continued to encounter difficulties as turnover declined by 3.5 percent. But within that division, high-speed internet services such as ADSL proved successful. The number of ADSL customers doubled to 913,000.

KPN reduced its net debt to EUR 7.9 billion at the end of March compared with EUR 11.2 billion 12 months ago, public news service NOS reported.

KPB chief Ad Scheepbouwer was positive about the results, saying that it was “again a successful quarter”. He said KPN was looking with confidence to the remainder of 2004 and was still expecting profit before tax of EUR 1.4 to 1.7 billion.

Subject: Dutch news