China Telecom FY18 Profit Up, Margin Down; Sees Healthy Growth In FY19 Profit

(RTTNews) - China Telecom Corp. Ltd. (CHA) reported Tuesday that its fiscal 2018 net profit increased 14 percent to 21.21 billion Chinese yuan from last year's 18.62 billion yuan. Earnings per share were 0.262 yuan, up from 0.230 yuan a year ago.

EBITDA was 104.21 billion yuan, 2 percent higher than 102.17 billion yuan last year. EBITDA Margin, meanwhile, dropped to 29.7 percent from 30.9% last year.

Operating revenue increased 3 percent to 377.12 billion yuan from 366.23 billion yuan last year. Service Revenue was 350.43 billion yuan, up 5.9 percent from the prior year.

Further, the Board of Directors recommends to the shareholders a final dividend of HK$0.125 for 2018, higher than HK$0.115 last year.

Looking ahead for fiscal 2019, the company expects to achieve healthy growth in net profit, and to maintain healthy growth in service revenue.