Telecom NZ to boost dividend
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CEO Gattung said lower interest payments helped Telecom's bottom line.
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(CNN) -- New Zealand's biggest company Telecom Corp. of New Zealand has lifted first-half earnings 21 percent to $NZ365 million ($248 million) and flagged a dividend increase.
The result, released Thursday in Wellington, was slightly ahead of expectations and came on the back of continued cost cutting.
It also included a NZ$28 million gain from the sale of Telecom's 12 percent stake in pay-TV operator Sky Network Television.
Telecom shares closed Thursday up 0.18 percent to NZ$5.54, compared with a fall of 0.15 percent in the broader market, measured by the NZSX Top 50.
Telecom said its revenue rose 1.5 percent to NZ$2.645 billion for the six months to December 31, 2003.
Chairman Roderick Deane said the company would lift its dividend for the third and fourth quarters to 7.5 NZ cents a share, up from 5 cents a share in the first and second quarters.
Deane said Telecom was targeting a dividend payout ratio of 70 percent of net earnings, up from 50 percent previously.
CEO Theresa Gattung said cost controls and lower interest payments had improved bottom line performance.
Revenue from Telecom's operations in Australia -- where it runs the AAPT fixed-line and mobile phone business -- was stable, while earnings rose 1.5 percent.
New Zealand revenue rose 3 percent, with an earnings gain of 3.8 percent.
Telecom sold its stake in Sky TV to Independent Newspapers Ltd for NZ$221 million in October last year.
