Team Talk falls to $3.6 million

Telecommunications company Team Talk yesterday reported its June year net profit fell 6.9 per cent to $3.6 million.

The company declared a 10c fully imputed final dividend to add to its 10c half-year dividend.

It forecast it would hold its dividend for next year. The profit fall was despite a 22 per cent rise in revenue to $24.6 million.

The higher revenue was mainly due to the purchase of two-thirds of Wellington based broadband company CityLink last December.

The pre-tax operating surplus fell 16 per cent to $4.9 million and earnings per share fell to 18.11c from 19.51c per share.

Team Talk said its core mobile radio business underwent significant change as the company geared up to sell mobile data such as computer-aided vehicle tracking and dispatch services into its established markets.

It said traditional voice services showed a modest decline as customers moved from voice dispatch to new computerised systems.

Revenue from the company's mobile radio business was down slightly from $20.2 million to $20.0 million while costs rose from $11.3 million to $11.9 million.

The CityLink contribution was in line with expectations provided to the market at the time of the acquisition.

Team Talk shares closed down 2c to $2.38 in a weak market. They were $2.63 a year ago.

- NZPA