Cairo: State-owned Telecom Egypt, the only provider of fixed-line services in the country, posted a 15 per cent drop in second-quarter profit on Monday, as a slowdown in tourism and business activity dragged on earnings.
Telecom Egypt, in an emailed statement, said net profit in the second quarter amounted to 826.7 million Egyptian pounds. The telco made a net profit of 971 million pounds in the year earlier, according to Zawya Dow Jones data.
The latest quarterly result beat the 722 million pounds estimate of Cairo-based investment bank Beltone Financial, but fell short of the 877 million pounds result predicted by EFG Hermes.
"While the immediate effects of the Egyptian revolution started to subside during the quarter, the prevailing operating environment has yet to normalise in Egypt," Telecom Egypt's Chairman Akil Beshir said in an emailed statement.
"Government curfews were fully lifted in mid-June, but tourism levels and business activities remain low and we continue to experience higher levels of copper cable theft than would be the case under normal conditions."
Telecom Egypt said in late June that the impact of damages caused by political unrest in the country that put an end to President Hosni Mubarak's 30-year regime cost the operator 85.5 million pounds.
The damages reported included thefts of the company's copper and fibre cables that make up its domestic telephone network after security in the country deteriorated.
The telco also said that the decline in net profit was due to higher repair and maintenance costs, the start of operations in Telecom Egypt's cable business, a decline in investment income and the impact of the increase in corporation tax to 25 per cent from 20 per cent that came into effect March 1.
