Dutch telecommunications operator KPN has announced a record second-quarter net loss of €9.3 billion due largely to a €9 billion write-down on the company's foreign mobile assets.
Excluding exceptional items KPN reported a net loss of €79 million in the second quarter, an improvement of 78 per cent on the loss of €354 million the same period last year.
In a statement issued this morning, the company said exceptional items had impacted heavily on KPN’s net result in the second quarter, particularly the write downs of E-Plus in Germany and BASE in Belgium.
In addition, KPN's 15 per cent interest in Hutchison 3G in Britain led to a €1.2 billion write off, which was included in the €9 billion.
But the company said the write-offs do not affect KPN’s operational free cash flow, which improved from a negative €166 million in the second quarter of 2001 to a positive €412 million in the second quarter of 2002.
KPN is working under new management to recover from near bankruptcy last year and has managed to cut its net debt from more than €20 billion to €15 billion at the end of the second quarter.