Swisscom Lowers Full Year Sales Guidance As 2Q Profit Dips

Telecommunications company Swisscom AG (SCMN.VX) Wednesday said it expects slightly lower full year revenue of 11.3 billion Swiss francs as it reported a 3.5% dip in second quarter net profit.

MAIN FACTS:

- 2Q Net profit fell 3.5% to CHF468 million from CHF485 million a year earlier.

- Analysts expected net profit of CHF461 million.

- 2Q Revenue fell 1.4% to CHF2.82 billion from CHF 2.86 billion in 2Q 2011.

- Revenue had been expected at CHF2.83 billion.

- In the first half of 2012, Swisscom's net revenue declined by 1.8% to CHF 5,621 million and operating income (EBITDA) was down 1.5% to CHF 2,236 million.

- The company was able to make up for the price erosion in its Swiss core business of some CHF 170 million through growth in customers and volume.

- Capital expenditure on infrastructure in Switzerland was up by 12.6% to CHF 740 million.

- Excluding wholesale revenues from interconnection services (hubbing), Fastweb posted a slight growth in revenue, with 78,000 new customers in the first half-year, and an increase in operating profit (EBITDA) of 1.3% to EUR 233 million despite higher subscriber acquisition costs.

- Due to currency developments Swisscom expects slightly lower net revenue of CHF 11.3 billion for full-year 2012, while other financial guidance remained unchanged.

- Swisscom has lowered the exchange rate underlying its financial outlook for 2012 from CHF 1.23 to CHF 1.20 per euro.

-Zurich Bureau, Dow Jones Newswires, [phone]; [e-mail]

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