German telecoms giant Deutsche Telekom AG this morning reported a 20 per cent rise in nine-month sales to €35 billion, in line with analysts' expectations.
The group posted preliminary nine-month net profit before goodwill and excluding UMTS third-generation mobile phone costs of €1.6 billion.
The net profit figure was inflated by €1.9 billion from the sale of shares in US phone company Sprint Corp, by €500 million from the sale of a cable TV stake and other one off items.
The company said its EBITDA (earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation) in the nine-month period showed double-digit growth.
The third quarter was the first full quarter for which Deutsche Telekom has posted results consolidating its loss-making US unit VoiceStream.