China Telecom rings in first-ever interim payout

A solid spread of new users were largely responsible for 3.1 percent increase in interim net profit at China Telecom (0728) to 18.2 billion yuan (HK$21 billion).

That enabled the company to declare its first-ever interim dividend of 12 fen per share, with the dividend payout ratio at 60 percent.

Operating revenue rose 10.5 percent to 242.3 billion yuan and service revenue came in at 221.4 billion yuan, expanding by 8.8 percent year-on-year.

The average revenue per user of the company’s mobile users reached 46 yuan while that of the broadband network reached 47.2 yuan.

Mobile customers increased by 3 percent to 384 million, an increase of 11.7 million, which helped drive the revenue from mobile communications services to 99 billion yuan – up six percent year on year.

Additionally, China Telecom’s projection for a user increase of 15 million is close to being realized, though the company said it will not raise its forecast for full-year user growth.

Also on the positive side, total debt dropped by 66.6 percent to 10.9 billion yuan. And investment was more than 240 billion yuan in the first half.

The operator also announced it had appointed executive director Shao Guanglu as president and chief operating officer.

Shares of China Telecom increased by 0.35 percent to HK$2.8 at yesterday’s close. The Standard