Lower costs and a property gain helped to boost PCCW’s net profit 18% in 2009.
The Hong Kong incumbent said its net profit rose from $163 million in 2008 to $193 million in 2009, in line with analysts’ estimates.
The profit increase is mainly due to revaluation gains on property and financial investments, as well as savings of 12%.
Ebitda also fell from $1.02 billion to $961 million, with telecom, media and ICT business ebitda remaining flat at $861 million.
Meanwhile, revenue dropped 22% to $3.2 billion mainly due to fewer apartment sales.
Telecom, media and ICT business revenues fell 5.3% to $2.67 billion.
Group managing director Alex Arena said the company had “weathered the financial tsunami relatively well.”
“Following the successive turnarounds of the mobile business in 2007 and the TV & content business in 2009, all our quadruple-play segments are now contributing positive ebitda,” he said.
Echoing a similar warning from SmarTone last week, Arena said pricing pressures continue “unabated” in Hong Kong’s telecom sector.