(LEAD) KT earnings more than triple in Q2

(ATTN: RECASTS headline; UPDATES throughout)
SEOUL, Aug. 7 (Yonhap) -- South Korean telecom giant KT Corp. said Friday its
second-quarter earnings more than tripled from a year earlier as a stable local
currency helped cut its foreign-exchange losses.

Net income amounted to 504.2 billion won (US$410.9 million) in the April-June
period, compared with 146.3 billion won a year earlier, the country's top
fixed-line and No. 2 mobile carrier said in an emailed statement.
Sales, however, dropped 2.7 percent on-year to 4.87 trillion won, while operating
profit rose 49.9 percent to 483.4 billion won, it said.
The earnings report was KT's first since the company's merger with its mobile
unit KTF Co. in June. The figures were calculated on the assumption that the two
companies became a single entity on Jan. 1, 2008, KT said.
Shares of KT were trading at 39,400 won as of 11:20 a.m. on the main bourse, down
0.38 percent from the previous day.
The company attributed the increased profits to lower foreign-exchange losses
from a strong local currency and cost-cutting efforts.
"On top of the currency effect, all-out efforts to reduce costs contributed to
higher earnings in the second quarter," chief financial officer Kim Yeon-hak said
in the statement.
KT's revenue from its mobile business dropped 0.3 percent from a year earlier to
2.51 trillion won in the second quarter, with fixed-line sales also falling 8.5
percent to 1.23 trillion won.
Revenue from its wireless Internet service based on South Korea's own WiBro
technology spiked 53.8 percent to 35.3 billion won, the company said.
KT offered an upbeat outlook for the third quarter, saying that market
competition will become less fierce, helping cut costs and increase sales.
"We expect profits and sales to post positive growth in the third quarter and
thereafter," he said. "KT has already posted a better sales result for July."
ygkim@yna.co.kr
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