Dutch KPN reports 98% profit plunge
"Our financial results in the first quarter were hurt by the competitive environment in our mobile markets" Chief Executive Eelco Blok said.
Amid widespread telecommunications dealmaking in Europe, KPN posted €3.0m in net profit, down from €152m in the same period of last year.
Turnover fell by 8.2% from €2.1bn €1.9bn year-on-year.
KPN has been facing tough competition in the Netherlands, with other providers under-cutting its market share through bundle packages and lower prices.
It has also suffered because of the increased use of free Internet phone services such as Skype.
KPN, which in February announced planned cuts of between 1,500 and 2000 jobs in the Netherlands by 2016, said however that it was making progress in other areas, notably the implementation of 4G coverage in the country.
"At the end of the first quarter, KPN reached nationwide 4G coverage, substantially ahead of the competition," it said.
Selling E-Plus
KPN said it hoped to obtain European Commission approval in June to sell E-Plus to Spanish group Telefonica.
The deal is estimated to be worth more than €8.5bn, €5.0bn was in cash and the rest in the form of a shareholding of 20.5% in Telefonica Deutschland.
KPN recommended a €0.07 dividend per share for 2014 that is subject to closing the E-Plus sale.
In last October, America Movil finally threw in the towel after failing to buy KPN in a hostile takeover bid valuing KPN at €10.2bn.
In January, US-based Liberty Global, already active in the Netherlands through UPC, announced it had bought Dutch cable operator Ziggo in a deal valued at 10 billion euros.
A former public operator, KPN privatised in 1994, and employs around 25,000 people worldwide.
KPN is one of several European telecommunications companies involved in deal-making in the last year or so.
Source: AFP via I-Net Bridge
Source: I-Net Bridge
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