Egypt's Orascom Telecom 1Q Net Pft Falls 86% On Year To $115.7M

Tuesday, May 15, 2012

DUBAI (Zawya Dow Jones)--Egypt's Orascom Telecom Holding, or OT, said its first-quarter net profit declined 86% compared with the year earlier period when the telco had sold its Tunisian assets.

Orascom Telecom made a first-quarter net profit of $115.7 million, compared with $812.7 million in the same period a year ago, it said in an emailed statement late Monday.

The result missed the $260 million figure that Cairo-based Naeem Brokerage had predicted. Beltone had penciled in a $38 million result.

Earnings per share came in at $0.11 versus $0.78 in the earlier period, the telco said.

"The decrease [in net profit] is a result of the sale of OTH's entire shareholding in Orascom Tunisia Holding and Carthage Consortium through which OTH owned 50% of Orascom Telecom Tunisia for a total cash consideration of $1.2 billion in the first quarter of 2011," OT said in the statement.

Orascom Telecom shares closed 0.9% down on Monday at EGP3.35 on the Egyptian Stock Exchange .

-By Shereen El Gazzar, Dow Jones Newswires; +971 444 61684; shereen.elgazzar@dowjones.com

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

15-05-12 0437GMT