Portugal Telecom 2Q Net Profit Gains On Brazilian Revenue

Portugal Telecom SGPS SA (PT) said Thursday its second-quarter net profit rose 83% as higher revenue from its key Brazilian market offset weakness in the beleaguered Portuguese market.

PT, Portugal's biggest telecommunications company by market capitalization, said net profit increased to EUR164.2 million from EUR90 million a year earlier.

Revenue rose 17% to EUR1.91 billion, while earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortization increased 11% to EUR663.6 million.

The company's biggest source of revenue is Brazilian mobile company Vivo Participacoes SA (VIV), which it controlled jointly with Spain's Telefonica SA (TEF) until July. Due to a stronger real and growth in the Brazilian market, PT's revenue in the quarter from Brazil rose 38% to EUR1.10 billion.

Last month, PT sold its stake in Vivo for EUR7.5 billion and used roughly half of the funds to buy a stake in Brazilian telecommunications company Oi (TMAR5.BR).

In its home market of Portugal, PT's revenue fell 1% to EUR798 million.

Besides Portugal and Brazil, Portugal Telecom has smaller operations in Angola, Cape Verde, Mozambique, Namibia and East Timor.

-By Jason Sinclair, Dow Jones Newswires; [phone]; [e-mail];