22 Aug 2014

Spark near doubles reported profit

6:21 pm on 22 August 2014

Spark, the new name for Telecom, is signalling this may be the last year its underlying profits will fall.

The phone company has reported a near doubling of annual net profit but its underlying result is down nearly 8 percent.

Its net profit for the year ended June of $458 million included the $238 million one-off gain from selling its AAPT division in February.

Spark's sales, excluding AAPT, fell 2.6 percent to $3.6 billion and it is forecasting a further decline in revenue this year.

Spark managing director Simon Moutter said the company's turn-around strategy was now gathering pace, which showed it was working.

"We're very positive about the track we're on," he said.

"A greater focus on customers and continued growth in mobile, data and IT services is creating stronger momentum and the potential to return to earnings growth in FY15."

Get the RNZ app

for ad-free news and current affairs