Rostelecom Q1 net profit up 6 pct to $379 mln

State-controlled telecoms company Rostelecom posted a January-March 2011 net profit of 10.6 billion rubles ($379 million) to IFRS on Thursday, up six percent year on year. Rostelecom, which completed a restructuring in spring to merge with seven regional telecoms companies, said its net profit margin fell to 14.6 percent from 14.8 percent in that period. The company's first quarter consolidated revenue grew by 8 percent to 72.4 billion rubles while operating profit fell 5 percent to 14.2 billion rubles. The company's OIBDA fell 2 percent to 27.2 billion rubles and OIBDA margin to 37.6 percent from 41.3 percent. Rostelecom's net debt totaled 154.4 billion rubles as of March 31, 2011, with the net debt to annualized OIBDA ratio standing at 1.5. The company's local telephony subscriber base was unchanged from late 2010 at 29.2 million, while the broadband Internet subscriber base rose 33 percent to 7.4 million and the Pay TV subscriber base grew 600 percent, year on year, to 5.5 million, the firm said.