Thai True Corp 2007 turns to profit, shares up

BANGKOK, Feb 27 (Reuters) - True Corp TRUE.BK, Thailand's only integrated telecoms firm, said on Wednesday it returned to profit in 2007 after two consecutive years of losses due to a foreign exchange gain and higher service revenues.

True, which owns a majority stake in True Move, the third-largest mobile phone firm, said in a statement it made a net profit of 1.7 billion baht ($53 million), or 0.26 baht per share, after a 4.03 billion baht loss a year earlier.

That was considerably more than an average 798 million baht profit forecast by three analysts polled by Reuters and the results sent True shares up 1.89 percent to 5.40 baht at 0335 GMT, when the main index .SETI was up 0.09 percent.

True hopes its mobile unit's operations should be more positive this year after making a profit in 2007 after losing money since it opened in 2002, and expected revenues to rise 8 percent this year, chief executive Suphachai Chearavanont has said.

True, founded by the Chearavanont family of the Charoen Pokphand Group, Thailand's largest agribusiness conglomerate, has major interests in mobile phones and operates internet broadband and pay-tv businesses.

With a strategy focused on bundled packages for mobile, fixed line, Internet and entertainment services, the firm expects about 50 percent of Thailand's 19 million households to use at least one True group service this year.

Service revenues rose 19.7 percent to 60.5 billion baht last year, when it booked interconnection fee revenues fully, the statement said.

The fees, paid by a caller's network to the receiving party's, helped boost mobile phone revenues and curb price wars as firms shifted from "per call" tariffs to promoting calls within their networks, analysts said.

True's operating expenses rose 4.6 percent to 54.2 billion baht due to the interconnection fees, although they were offset partially by reductions in depreciation and amortisation expenses, the statement said.

The firm had a 2.4 billion baht foreign exchange gain in 2007, when the baht strengthened against the dollar, up from 1.9 billion baht a year earlier, it said.

True Move, whose service revenues account for half of True Corp's, said it gained 4.5 million new subscribers in 2007 and now had 12.1 million, or a 23 percent share of the Thai market.

It aimed to win one-third of the 8-10 million new mobile phone subscribers expected this year and True expected its market share to rise to 25 percent, the firm has said.

It competes with market leader Advanced Info Service (ADVA.BK) and number two Total Access Communication (DTAC.BK) (TACC.SI).

True said its broadband customers rose 24 percent to 548,000 at the end of 2007 and it had 949,000 cable television subscribers, up 52 percent from a year earlier.

"We'll continue to lead the broadband market, which we expect to grow 30 percent to 1.3 million households," Suphachai said in a statement. ($1=32.30 Baht) (Reporting by Arada Therdthammakun; Editing by Michael Battye)