Swisscom first quarter net profit down on acquisition costs

0 Comments | AFP, May, 2008

ZURICH (AFP) — Swiss telecommunications group Swisscom said on Wednesday that net profit for the first quarter fell on the costs of buying of Italian broadband firm Fastweb.

Profit had also been hit by depreciation and the hedging of future payments in foreign currencies.

Hedging is a process of buying contracts in the future as an insurance against price fluctuations.

However, it managed to offset declining revenues in the traditional fixed-line business through growth in mobile telephony and broadband connections, said the group.

Net profit for the first three months of the year reached 428 million Swiss francs (262 million euros), 7.2 percent less year-on-year.

Sales were, however, up 23.4 percent to 2.933 billion Swiss francs, with about...