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By Ben King, 28 August 2001 12:36

NEWS Strong revenue growth was not enough to save Deutsche Telekom from the indignity of announcing a loss of E349m (£217m) in its half-yearly results. The group's earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation, (EBITDA) excluding one-offs, rose 12 per cent in the first half to E7.2bn (£4.5bn), with revenues up 16.9 per cent, to E22.5bn (£14.1bn). Deutsche Telekom's chief executive Ron Sommer told a news conference in Berlin
the company will float its T-Mobile wireless arm, including the UK's One2One network, in 2002. The float was planned for this year, but was delayed because of poor market conditions. Deutsche Telekom's share price has fallen at an alarming rate over the past few weeks, largely due to the number of shares coming on to the market. Many of the company's recent acquisitions, including VoiceStream in the US, were part-paid in shares, leaving former VoiceStream owners like Sonera and Hutchison Whampoa in possession of large holdings they are keen to get rid of. With more sellers than buyers, the share price has plummeted, and this has been largely responsible for DT's alarming 82 per cent slide. Sommer confirmed that 170 million more shares could flow back onto the market in coming months, as lock-up agreements expire. Deutsche Telekom has been involved in a dispute with Deutsche Bank for pre-selling a 35.5 million block of DT shares on behalf of Hutchison Whampoa, a move which first pushed the DT slide. Deutsche Telekom has allowed Sonera to sell its 21.9 million share holding early.