Ameritech Corp, the Chicago-based telecommunications company, has reported fourth-quarter net income up 7% at $610m on revenue up 6.8% at $4.15bn. For the year, net income rose 7.6% to $2.3bn on revenue up 7.2% at $16bn. Earnings per share rose 5.8% to $0.55 for the quarter, and 8.3% to $2.08 for the year, essentially hitting Wall Street estimates on the head. Ameritech was busy during the quarter, striking a deal to take a 42% stake in Danish state telecom giant Tele Danmark through an investment of $3.2bn and announcing the public sale of its 25% stake in Telecom Corp of New Zealand, valued at around $2bn. For the year, the company saw 27% growth in cellular customers, adding 665,000 for a total of 3.2 million. Paging customers increased 31% to 1.5 million and access lines grew 4.3% to 20.5 million. Ameritech also realized a 17% increase in the sale of call management services, such as caller ID and call waiting. Results for the quarter include pre- tax gains of $85m and pre-tax charges of $85m. Results for fiscal 1997 include fourth-quarter items plus an after-tax charge of $87m and pre-tax gain of $52m. Results for the fourth quarter and fiscal year 1996 include an $18m after-tax gain.
