China Telecom maintains profit

China Telecom (0728) said its first-half net profit rose 0.3 percent to 13.95 billion yuan (HK$15.6 billion), without declaring an interim dividend, while shares of its 5G partner China Unicom (0762) jumped another 11 percent.

Basic earnings per share were 17.2 fen during the first half this year. Earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization fell 0.2 percent to 63.15 billion yuan.

The company's operating revenues for the first six months increased by 1.7 percent from a year ago to 193.8 billion yuan, with service revenues growing 2.5 percent year-on-year to 187.1 billion yuan.

The average revenue per user for mobile services totaled 44.40 yuan, sliding 5.3 percent from a year ago but growing 0.5 percent compared with the second half last year. The company had a total of 37.84 million 5G package users as of the end of June and is aiming to record a net addition of 60 to 80 million 5G users for the whole year.

Chairman and chief executive Ke Ruiwen said despite over half of the company's equipment being purchased from Huawei Technologies, the company has more than one supplier and will expand its supply channels to reduce the impact of US restrictions.

Meanwhile, Chines Unicom said it has built 260,000 5G base stations in the mainland and grow to 370,000 by the end of this year, mainland media reported.

Shares of China Telecom closed 3.69 percent higher at HK$2.81 and China Unicom grew 11.05 percent at HK$6.53.

Elsewhere, CITIC Telecom (1883) said its net profit for the first half rose 0.2 percent to HK$512 million, declaring an interim dividend of 5 HK cents, the same as last year. EBITDA slid 1.6 percent to HK$1.23 billion.

In other news, China Life Insurance (2628) denied a market rumor that it plans to merge with New China Life Insurance (1336).

China Life, whose mainland-listed shares rose more than 20 percent for three consecutive trading days since Friday, said it has conducted an internal inspection and made a written inquiry to its parent China Life Insurance (Group) Company with regard to the unusual movements in its shares trading.

Shares of the insurer dipped by 0.2 percent to HK$20.10 yesterday.