Europe's largest telecoms concern Deutsche Telekom prepared to detail its 2004 business figures Thursday after revealing good news to shareholders that it aimed to pay a dividend after a two-year break. The company reported that it achieved fourth-quarter net income of 1.42 billion euros (1.9 billion dollars) in its fourth straight quarterly profit. In an announcement ahead of a press conference to discuss full- year 2004 figures, Telekom said the figure compared with a loss of 364 million euros in the final quarter of 2003. The company's turnaround came amid higher earnings for its T- Mobile and T-Online operations as well as from selling off assets. For the full year, net income in 2004 reached 4.6 billion euros, more than triple the 1.3 billion euros the year before. Net revenues, at 57.9 billion euros, were up 3.7 per cent on 2003 figures. After two years in which shareholders came away empty-handed as Telekom sought to reduce costs and debts, the company said it aims to pay a 0.62 euros dividend from last year's profits. The company said that in 2004, it slashed its debts further, by 11.4 billion euros, to a year-end level of 35.2 billion euros. In 2005, the company said it expected adjusted profit for the current year before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization to rise to between 20.7 billion euros and 21 billion euros.
