TNT fourth-quarter update
Dutch mail company TNT NV said on Monday its fourth-quarter operating profit rose 11.3 percent, but its shares fell as some analysts called the 2007 outlook disappointing.
TNT, which sold its logistics and freight management units last year, said earnings before interest and tax (EBIT) rose to 355 million euros (USD465 million), in line with an average forecast of 351 million euros in a Reuters poll of 10 analysts.
TNT group revenue rose 7.6 percent to 2.767 billion euros, compared with an average analyst forecast of 2.81 billion euros.
The company announced a new share buyback of up to 400 million euros which is due to start after a shareholders’ meeting in April and proposed a dividend of 0.73 euros per share, an increase of almost 16 percent, roughly half of which was due to past share buybacks.
TNT shares fell 1.8 percent to 33.69 euros by 1033 GMT. The DJ Stoxx industrials index was up 0.4 percent.
TNT said it expected its mail division to report revenue growth in the mid single-digit percentage range for 2007 and an EBIT margin of around 17 percent, down from 18.7 percent in 2006. Lower-margin mail operations outside of the Netherlands are expected to show 25 percent revenue growth.
