Thai AIS Q3 net profit down 7.7 pct, beats forecasts

Published: 05 Nov 2009 22:16:23 PST

BANGKOK, Nov 6 - Thailand's top mobile phone operator, Advanced Info Service PCL (AIS) , reported a 7.7 percent fall in quarterly earnings on Friday as a weak economy hit revenue and mobile use.

AIS, 21.4 percent owned by Singapore Telecommunications Ltd , posted a July-September net profit of 4.18 billion baht ($125 million), or 1.41 baht per share, down from 4.53 billion baht a year earlier and 4.19 billion in the previous quarter.

But the result beat the average forecast of 3.9 billion baht in a Reuters survey of 12 analysts.

AIS, Thailand's fifth-biggest listed company with a market value of $7.5 billion, has about 50 percent of the domestic mobile phone market, ahead of Total Access Communication's roughly 30 percent share.

AIS stock rose 4 percent in the July-September quarter, underperforming a 20 percent gain in the main Thai index <.SETI>. ($1=33.41 Baht)