Mobile Performance

July 26, 2010 (LBO) - Sri Lankan mobile phone operator Dialog Axiata made a net profit of 1.





37 billion rupees in the June 2010 quarter compared with a loss of 7.24 billion rupees a year ago, a stock exchange filing said.

Sales rose 14.3 percent to 10.16 billion rupees over the period while administration costs fell to 1.





6 billion rupees from nine billion rupees the year before owing to cost cutting.

Basic earnings per share were 0.

16 rupees compared with a loss of 0.99 rupees per share in the June quarter of the previous year.

The number of Dialog subscribers rose 10 percent to 6.

6 million at end of June 2010 from a year ago.

"The company continued to register positive gains in the mobile market during the second quarter of 2010, on the backdrop of aggressive competition," a statement said.

"Company revenue grew by a robust 15 percent compared to the first half of 2009 and by two percent quarter-on-quarter.

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The Dialog group returned to profitability in the March 2010 quarter after suffering a string of losses in previous quarters owing to higher costs and a price war brought on by stiff competition.

It said in the first half ending June 2010 it made a foreign exchange translation gai