Telstra Corporation has posted an 8.8% net profit increase for the half year to December 31. Net profit was $1.6 billion. Revenue increased 1.7% for the half, with Telstra adding 607,000 new mobile customers locally. The company warned that it expected to incur significant costs in the financial year from the renewal of existing spectrum licences.
News Corps net profit results for the second quarter was dragged down by its troubled publishing arm. The company recorded a slight increase in revenue to US$9.4 billion from $8.9 billion for the previous corresponding quarter, while operating profit before tax rose to $1.6 billion from $1.5 billion for the corresponding period.
The increase in revenue was led by a $398 million or 18% growth in the company’s cable business. However, it included $56 million in costs related to the ongoing investigations into prone tapping initiated after the closure of The News of the World.
Worries about bad debts receded at National Australia Bank, with unadited revenue increasing 3% for the first quarter of the year, and the charge for bad and doubtful debts falling $63 million or 10%.
