THE HAGUE (dpa-AFX) - Dutch telecommunication firm Royal KPN NV (KPN, KKPNY.PK, KKPNF.PK) Tuesday reported a loss for the third quarter, compared with profit last year, reflecting a decline in mobile price levels and revenues from business customers, despite customer growth.
The firm recommended dividend payments in respect of 2014, and intends to grow in respect of 2015.
CEO, Eelco Blok stated, 'In the consumer market we realized customer base growth for all our main services. The business market remained challenging, although we made good progress in growing multi play and 4G.'
Net loss totaled 76 million euros, compared with a profit of 87 million euros a year earlier.
The company also incurred costs of 114 million euros due to the increase in option liability for Reggefiber. Excluding the revaluation of the option, KPN reported a net profit of 38 million euros.
Operating profit, or EBIT, was 193 million euros, lower than 281 million euros last year. Adjusted EBITDA totaled 650 million euros, compared with 762 million euros a year ago.
Revenues declined 3.9 percent to 1.98 billion euros from 2.08 billion euros a year earlier. Adjusted revenues fell 4.9 percent year-over-year.
The firm has recommenced dividend payments in respect of 2014, and intends to pay a total dividend of 0.07 euro per share for the year. KPN also intends to grow dividend in respect of 2015.
'The sale of E-Plus has been completed and has given us a solid financial profile, which provides a strong platform to execute our strategy in The Netherlands and Belgium,' Blok added.
In Amsterdam, KPN shares are currently trading at 2.48 euros, up 3.59 percent on a volume of 7.38 million shares.
Copyright RTT News/dpa-AFX