12 Aug 2008
Cath Hart
OPTUS posted a flat net profit result of $122 million for the first quarter of the year and revealed $30 million in bad debt to collapsed bill payment provider Bill Express.The first-quarter results also showed that parent company SingTel's net profit was also flat at $S865 million ($699 million), falling short of analysts' expectations, largely because of volatile foreign exchange rates.
SingTel is Southeast Asia's largest telephone company and operates Optus, Australia's number two telco.
SingTel's first-quarter report comes ahead of Telstra's annual result today. SingTel CEO Chua Sock Koong said currency fluctuations in SingTel's overseas operations had had a negative impact on the results.
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