TeliaSonera says 2Q profit rose 7.8 pct

Nordic telecommunications operator TeliaSonera AB reported a 7.8 percent rise in second-quarter profit on Thursday, mainly due to stronger revenues and margin improvements.

The Stockholm-based company also reiterated its forecast for 2008, saying sales were expected to continue to show stable growth compared with 2007.

TeliaSonera's net profit in the quarter edged up to 4.1 billion kronor ($680 million), rising from 3.8 billion kronor in the same three months a year ago.

Second-quarter sales rose to 25.3 billion kronor ($4.2 billion), an increase from 23.9 billion kronor in the same three-month period in 2007.

CEO Lars Nyberg called the results "satisfactory," noting that "the overall market trends were essentially unchanged" in the period.

He also said that his company had managed to increase its margins for the first time in over 12 months. But, he said, margins within its Broadband Services unit is still struggling.

In February, the company announced a cost cutting plan that would lead to around 2,900 jobs being slashed. Most of them will be cut in Sweden and in Finland.

TeliaSonera was also recently targeted by a 27 billion euros ($42.5 billion) indicative bid by France Telecom, but rebuffed it saying it was too low. The French telecommunications company later dropped the offer, which it said would have created the world's No. 4 telecom operator with 237 million subscribers and holdings in developed and emerging markets.