TPSA Q4 results shows it is not unduly affected by recession

On Tuesday, TPSA posted fourth quarter sales that were slightly below expectations. The operator showed 3.1% October-December revenue growth to zl. 4.62 billion compared with a forecast of zl. 4.8 billion. Full-year 2002 sales rose 3.9% to zl. 18 billion. TPSA's fixed-line client base grew 3.3% to 10.79 million subscribers last year. The government holds about 18% in the giant after handing a 4.7% stake to two state-owned banks last spring, prompting fears of share oversupply that hit the stock periodically until the banks sold out in December. TPSA said it had cut its workforce by 24.3% to 47,928 employees during 2002, with the overwhelming majority of redundancies in the parent company. TPSA released figures according to International Accounting Standards ahead of France Telecom's results. TPSA with a market value of $4.5 billion will publish its full 2002 results on March 3. (Reuters, Parkiet, p. 3) K.Z.