T-Mobile owner Deutsche Telekom reported an upbeat set of second-quarter financial results today as previously weak markets such as the US, UK and Poland showed signs of recovery, reports Wall Street Journal. Weaknesses at these three markets had led to the German telecoms giant issuing a surprise profits warning in April. CEO Rene Obermann said that the new management team for its UK mobile arm, T-Mobile UK, will unveil its strategy to strengthen operations within the coming weeks. The EBITDA margin in the UK rose to 17.3 percent in the quarter compared to 13.5 percent in 1Q09. Meanwhile, Obermann noted that its EBITDA margin in Poland improved by more than 12 percentage points compared to the first quarter, while T-Mobile USA’s second-quarter EBITDA margin improved 4.4 percentage points. However, he added the company’s US sales trend was still below par and that he expects no growth in dollar terms yet. This should change mid-term “but the turnaround won’t be in the third quarter,” Obermann said.
At a group level, Deutsche Telekom reported a 32 percent rise in second-quarter profits, boosted by the addition of Greece’s OTE, which it acquired last year. The Greece-based operator contributed EUR1.5 billion to net revenue and EUR0.5 billion to adjusted EBITDA in the quarter. Deutsche Telekom recorded a net profit of EUR521 million (compared with EUR394 million a year earlier) on revenues of EUR16.2 billion, up 7.4 percent on the year ago period. EBITDA rose 8.4 percent to EUR5.3 billion. Earnings and revenue were roughly in line with analysts’ expectations. Analysts polled by Reuters had on average seen sales at EUR16.288 billion and EBITDA at EUR5.084 billion. By the end of the quarter, Deutsche Telekom said it served some 150 million mobile customers worldwide, an increase of 8 million over the year.
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