Koninklijke PTT Nederland NV, the only state post and telephone organization so far to the privatized as a single entity, says its telecommunications activities saw a 9.3% increase in sales in 1996, but that growth in operating profits were hit by rising costs. Telecommunications revenue rose to $7.55bn, particularly reflecting growth in national telephony and mobile telecommunications, it said. Overall, net profits were up over 9% to the equivalent of about $1.3bn, and it looks for further profit growth this year. It expects to double revenue from postal activities, partly as a result of the takeover of Australian express delivery service TNT. Investments in acquisitions and fixed assets jumped 78% to $4.61bn in 1996, the group said. These include the acquisition of key minority shareholdings in Telecom Eireann and PT Telkomsel of Indonesia. New takeovers were possible in the current year and PTT said it was keeping open the option of raising additional funds on the capital market in the course of 1997. Postal acquisitions included its Belgian Distribution service, Net courier services in Germany, Austria and Denmark and the takeover of Dutch bookshop and stationery chains De Boekelier and Bruna by its 50%-owned Postkantoren BV. As for TNT, it says major job cuts are unlikely as it restructures the company. As for that quirky combination, according to Reuter it is still considering a split into two separate listings for its core postal and telecommunications arms but that this could take months to work out.
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