Sonaecom Q3 net profit drops 66 pct, beats fcasts

LISBON, Nov 2 (Reuters) - Portuguese telecoms and internet company Sonaecom (SNC.LS) posted a 66 percent fall in third-quarter net profit as declining revenue outweighed cost cuts, but beat market expectations.

Sonaecom said in a statement issued late on Sunday that it had a net profit of 1.4 million euros ($2.06 million) in the July-September period, down from 4.2 million last year.

Total revenues fell 6.5 percent to 235 million euros, pressured by a 6.7 percent drop in revenues at its Optimus mobile network -- Portugal's third largest -- due to the negative impact of regulatory changes on income from roaming and inter-operator fees.

Sonaecom added that Optimus had 3.33 million clients at the end of September, 9 percent more than at the same time last year.

Earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) shrank 6.6 percent to 45 million euros. Operational costs dropped 5 percent to 188 million euros, but were insufficient to prevent a slide in the bottom line.

A Reuters survey of five analysts had expected Sonaecom, on average, to post a net profit of 400,000 euros, revenues of 236 million euros and EBITDA of 43 million euros. ($1=.6784 Euro) (Reporting by Shrikesh Laxmidas; editing by Simon Jessop)