Half-year profits dip 11 pct at Bosnia's m:tel

Mtel ad Banja Luka

03/08/2015 18:07

SARAJEVO, Aug 3 (Reuters) - Profits at m:tel  TLKM.BJ , 
Bosnia's second-largest telecoms firm,  fell 11 percent in the 
first half of the year to 40.8 million Bosnian marka ($22.8 
million) after tax, due to increased costs related to 
acquisitions, the company said on Monday. 
    While its revenues rose 0.25 percent to 235 million marka, 
operating costs, mainly related to acquisitions at home and in 
Austria, increased 7.4 percent to 187.3 million marka, the 
company said in a statement. 
    Last year m:tel expanded in Austria as a mobile virtual 
network operator, setting up its fully-owned company MTEL 
Austria. It also acquired Logosoft, the private telephone and 
Internet company based in Sarajevo.  
    The acquisitions and related costs increased the group's 
total costs in the first half of the year but would result in a 
significant increase in revenues "in the next period," the 
company said in the statement. 
    M:tel, one of Bosnia's three telecoms operators, is based in 
the Serb Republic but has expanded operations in the 
Bosniak-Croat Federation, the Balkan country's other region. It 
reported  a net profit of 106.5 million marka in 2014, the 
largest of all three operators. 
    M:tel is majority owned by Serbia's state-owned telephone 
and internet service operator Telekom Srbija, which is slated 
for privatisation. 
    The Serbian government said on Monday it would decide who 
can make binding offers for a 58 percent stake in the company 
after August 17, after assessing preliminary bids. 
 ID:nL5N10E2X5  
    Shares in m:tel were down 0.6 percent at 1.61 marka on 
Monday, valuing the company at just over 808 million marka. 
 ($1 = 1.786 Bosnian marka) 
 
 (Reporting by Daria Sito-Sucic; Editing by Greg Mahlich) 
 ((daria.sito-sucic@thomsonreuters.com; +38733 295 484; Reuters 
Messaging: daria.sito-sucic.thomsonreuters.com@reuters.net)) 
 
Keywords: BOSNIA M:TEL/RESULTS