Deputy transport and communications minister M. Guerlichova yesterday said that an agreement should be reached in the coming days between TelSource/KPN and the government on a joint sale of their stakes in Cesky Telecom (33.5% and 51%, respectively). Such an agreement is a precondition for subsequent privatization of CT and could be seen as good news for the stock (though any response would likely be limited).
Separately, CT yesterday announced it would lay off 2,500 employees this year, which is significantly more than we have expected (-700).
CT’s detailed IAS 2000 figures, released yesterday, did not reveal anything particularly new given that the main items were in line with preliminary results released already in February (e.g. net income of CZK 6.4 bil.). Revenue breakdown revealed fixed-line call revenues falling 9% y-to-y and growth in cellular revenues still very strong (+53% y-to-y), to mention just the two most important items. Customer figures were also mostly known (number of fixed lines stagnating, number of cellular users doubling to 2.17 mil., number of Internet users growing to 185,000 from 45,000 one year ago). The company will hold an analyst presentation today at noon (CET).
(Ondřej Daťka)