October 30 (SeeNews) - Croatian blue-chip telecoms equipment manufacturer Ericsson Nikola Tesla reported on Tuesday a fall in its nine-month net profit to 105.9 million kuna ($20.7 million/14.4 million euro) from 141.1 million a year earlier despite a 8.3% rise in sales revenue.
“The net profit is lower on the year but in line with the planned one for the first nine months of 2007,” the company said in a non-consolidated financial statement to the Zagreb Stock Exchange.
The company’s net profit last year was boosted by 36.6 million kuna which it received in damages for a fire, it added. Besides, the net profit in the period from January to September this year was affected by 14 million kuna costs for treasury shares to company’s employees.
“The results are more or less in line with our expectations,” Tajana Gotal, an analyst with consultancy Fima Fas told SeeNews. When the effects of the one-off revenue last year are excluded, Tesla marked a “solid” growth of revenue both in Croatia and abroad, she said.
The company's sales in Croatia rose 14.9% to 387.1 million kuna. Overall exports grew almost 5.7% to 881.7 million kuna. Within the internal market of the Ericsson group, Telsa’s sales to other members of the group rose 18.2% to 295.5 million kuna.
Swedish electronics giant Ericsson owns 49.07% of Tesla.
Exports to Bosnia and Montenegro rose 8.7% to 194.5 million kuna. In the third quarter the company also started exports to the U.N.-run southern Serbian province of Kosovo under a 58.6 million kuna deal with Kosovo’s wireless operator Ipko Net.
Tesla’s sales on the markets of the Commonwealth of Independent States fell 15.9% to 333.1 million kuna due to saturation in the fixed-telephony and weaker U.S. dollar, it added.
“The gross margin of 16.3% was lower compared to17.8% in the same period a year earlier due to changes in the production mix,” Tesla said in a statement.
For the whole of 2007, Fima Fas expects that Tesla’s sales will rise some 3.0% to 4.0%.
Tesla’s shares traded at 3,310 kuna by 1200 GMT, a dip from Monday’s close of 3,320 kuna that Gotal attributed to an overall slight correction on the Croatian market rather than to the company’s nine-month results.
(1 euro= 7.3464 Croatian kuna)