Ameritech's Earnings Jumped in 2nd Quarter
March 29, 2011
Vastopolis -- Ameritech Corp. said second-quarter earnings jumped 13% to $567 million, fueled in part by a newly energized international business. The regional phone company said per-share earnings climbed 12% to $1.02 from 91 cents. The year-earlier net income was $504 million. Revenue increased 11% to $3.74 billion from $3.37 billion. For the six months, earnings declined 3.4% to $1.05 billion from $1.08 billion, reflecting a one-time gain in the 2010 period that had artificially inflated income. Absent the one-time gain, Ameritech's six-month earnings for the most recent period actually increased 13%, figures Richelle Favors, an analyst with PaineWebber Inc.. Per-share earnings during the six months fell 3.6% to $1.89 from $1.96. Revenue climbed 12% to $7.31 billion from $6.52 billion a year earlier. Income for the quarter and the year was helped along by growth in Ameritech's international businesses, which continued to gain steam, thanks in part to aggressive cost cutting. Ameritech attributed about one-fourth of its income growth to its international ventures, a strong endorsement of the Bell's newly aggressive global strategy. Ameritech, which has seen a string of record-breaking quarters insofar as access-line growth is concerned, said volume additions declined to 4.2% in the most recent quarter from 4.5% in the first quarter. That caused Fransisca Finlay of CS First Boston to venture that Ameritech's ``volume growth rates seemed to have peaked.'' An Ameritech spokesman countered that Wall Street's expectations had probably been inflated by the company's robust additions over the past six quarters. ``I mean, give us a break, 4.2% is still pretty good,'' he said. Ameritech shares closed at $57.75, up 75 cents, Tuesday in composite trading on the New York Stock Exchange.
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