KPN tackles debt mountain

NEWS The company's debt spiralled last year with the acquisition of mobile phone licences and a 77 per cent stake in German mobile operator E-plus, reaching a net figure of E22.9bn (£14.3bn). Other cost-cutting plans unveiled today include the disposal of various properties, including and possible sale or leasing back of some of the sites of E-plus' mobile phone masts. A total of 8,000 jobs are also to go. The company also plans to unload its investments in mobile networks in Eastern Europe, as well as a 16.7 per cent stake in international data network operator Infonet. However, KPN announced no plans to offload any of its 44 per cent stake in its internet data joint venture KPNQwest. KPNQwest has built only two of 18 data centres after a deal with IBM to take 25 per cent of their capacity fell through. Nonetheless, KPN announced better full-year results than expected, with net profits of E1.87bn (£1.2bn), up from E282m (£175m) in 1999.