Deutsche Telekom: Profits tripled in Q1

German telecoms giant Deutsche Telekom said Thursday that profits trebled in the first quarter thanks to the sale of a 70-percent stake in its Scout24 online portal. However, underlying profits fell due to heavy investment in the US. Nevertheless, the group said it expected to attain stable profits for the whole year. "At 1.8 billion euros, net profit was more than three times higher in the first three months than in the prior-year period. This is attributable to income from the partial sale of the Scout24 group," Deutsche Telekom said in a statement. Adjusted for the windfall gains from the divestment, net profit actually fell by 23.5 percent to 587 million euros and underlying or operating profit fell by 3.9 percent to 4.12 billion euros. The decline was "mainly attributable to higher market investments in the United States," the statement said. Revenues, on the other hand, grew by 8.0 percent to 14.894 billion euros. "Thanks to the booming US business, Deutsche Telekom upped the pace of growth in the first quarter of 2014," said chief executive Tim Hoettges. "Our success story in the United States continues. The decision to invest boldly in this market was right on the mark. We are once again delivering figures in the first quarter that confirm we are on the right track," Hoettges said. Looking ahead, Deutsche Telekom said it is sticking to its forecast for the full year with underlying profit expected to be around 17.6 billion euros, a minimal rise of around 1.0 percent over last year.