AGL 37.89 Decreased By ▼ -1.69 (-4.27%)
AIRLINK 126.00 Decreased By ▼ -5.22 (-3.98%)
BOP 6.83 Increased By ▲ 0.02 (0.29%)
CNERGY 4.45 Decreased By ▼ -0.26 (-5.52%)
DCL 7.89 Decreased By ▼ -0.55 (-6.52%)
DFML 37.32 Decreased By ▼ -4.15 (-10.01%)
DGKC 77.50 Decreased By ▼ -4.59 (-5.59%)
FCCL 30.60 Decreased By ▼ -2.50 (-7.55%)
FFBL 69.02 Decreased By ▼ -3.85 (-5.28%)
FFL 11.89 Decreased By ▼ -0.37 (-3.02%)
HUBC 105.50 Decreased By ▼ -5.24 (-4.73%)
HUMNL 13.50 Decreased By ▼ -1.01 (-6.96%)
KEL 4.67 Decreased By ▼ -0.52 (-10.02%)
KOSM 7.28 Decreased By ▼ -0.33 (-4.34%)
MLCF 36.60 Decreased By ▼ -2.30 (-5.91%)
NBP 65.30 Increased By ▲ 1.29 (2.02%)
OGDC 181.00 Decreased By ▼ -11.82 (-6.13%)
PAEL 24.58 Decreased By ▼ -1.10 (-4.28%)
PIBTL 7.15 Decreased By ▼ -0.19 (-2.59%)
PPL 144.00 Decreased By ▼ -10.07 (-6.54%)
PRL 24.40 Decreased By ▼ -1.43 (-5.54%)
PTC 16.40 Decreased By ▼ -1.41 (-7.92%)
SEARL 78.61 Decreased By ▼ -3.69 (-4.48%)
TELE 7.20 Decreased By ▼ -0.56 (-7.22%)
TOMCL 32.01 Decreased By ▼ -1.45 (-4.33%)
TPLP 8.15 Decreased By ▼ -0.34 (-4%)
TREET 16.10 Decreased By ▼ -0.52 (-3.13%)
TRG 54.89 Decreased By ▼ -2.51 (-4.37%)
UNITY 27.50 Decreased By ▼ -0.01 (-0.04%)
WTL 1.29 Decreased By ▼ -0.08 (-5.84%)
BR100 10,116 Decreased By -388.7 (-3.7%)
BR30 29,567 Decreased By -1659.1 (-5.31%)
KSE100 94,574 Decreased By -3505.6 (-3.57%)
KSE30 29,445 Decreased By -1113.9 (-3.65%)

AT&T Inc on Monday posted a better-than-expected rise in third-quarter profit, helped by growth in Internet and mobile phone services, as well as merger-related cost cuts.
The biggest US telephone company said profit excluding merger-related costs rose 58.2 percent to $2.4 billion, or 63 cents per diluted share, compared to $1.5 billion, or 47 cents a share, in the same quarter a year earlier. Analysts polled by Reuters Estimates, on average, expected earnings of 58 cents a share before the special items. AT&T shares were up nearly 1 percent in premarket trade at $34.70, compared to its close on the New York Stock Exchange on Friday at $34.44. Like most telecommunications companies, AT&T relies heavily on its wireless venture, Cingular, for growth amid a fall in traditional landline subscribers. Todd Rethemeier, an analyst at Surterre Research, said cost-cutting had also helped the results, contributing more than he had expected to earnings.
AT&T's consolidated revenue, which does not include sales from its 60 percent stake in Cingular, totalled $15.6 billion for the quarter ended September 30, up from a pre-merger $10.3 billion in the third quarter of 2005. Cingular, which AT&T co-owns with BellSouth Corp, said last Thursday its third-quarter profit nearly quadrupled on stronger-than-expected subscriber growth and savings from its integration of AT&T Wireless.
AT&T said net income was $2.2 billion, up 73.8 percent from the year-ago quarter, or 56 cents per share. That included costs related to SBC Communications Inc's acquisition of AT&T Corp last November, and costs from Cingular Wireless' acquisition of AT&T Wireless in the fourth quarter of 2004. AT&T is preparing to merge with BellSouth, a move that would reinforce its position as the nation's biggest telecommunications service provider.
The Federal Communications Commission has scheduled a meeting to vote on the AT&T-Bellsouth merger on November 3. AT&T said Internet subscriptions also helped to bolster sales amid a fall in landline connections. High-speed Internet subscribers, including those for DSL and AT&T's U-verse fibre-optic system, increased 25.5 percent from a year earlier to 8.2 million.
Primary consumer lines, in contrast, fell by 242,000 in the third quarter, compared to a fall of 114,000 in the third quarter of 2005. AT&T's third-quarter operating income margin was 19.5 percent before merger-related costs. That compared with a pre-merger margin in the year-earlier quarter of 19.0 percent.

Copyright Reuters, 2006

Comments

Comments are closed.