Swisscom reports 7.2% dip in earnings

Swisscom's first quarter net profit fell 7.2% because of costs stemming from last year's acquisition of Italy's Fastweb, an Associated Press report said.

Switzerland's biggest telecoms company said net profit was 428 million Swiss francs (US$407.5 million; €262.43 million) compared with 461 million francs in the same period last year.

This was below analysts' estimates of a 450 million francs (US$428.4 million; €276 million) net profit, the report said.

The company, which is still majority-owned by the Swiss government, said Fastweb helped boost its revenue by 23% to 2.93 billion francs (US$2.79 billion; €1.8 billion), compared with 2.38 billion francs in the year-ago period, the report said.

Earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization were 1.16 billion francs ($1.1 billion; €710 million) compared with 968 million francs in the year-earlier period, Swisscom said.

The company maintained its full year outlook.