Updated at 5.44pm: PCCW, Hong Kong?s leading fixed line telecoms operator, on Thursday reported a 17 per cent fall in interim earnings.
The net profit for the six months to June was HK$796 million, down from HK$954 million a year earlier. Last year?s result had included a substantial one-time gain.
Some analysts had predicted a higher half-yearly result for this year, according to news reports on Thursday.
The company also announced a dividend of 6.5 HK cents ? unchanged from last year.
Control of PCCW is expected to change in November when PCCW chairman Richard Li Tzar-kai hands over control to Francis Leung Pak-to, a well-known Hong Kong financier.
Richard Li is the son of Hong Kong billionaire Li Ka-shing.
Mr Li and Mr Leung reached a deal in July in which Mr Leung would buy Mr Li?s 23 per cent stake in PCCW for HK$9.1 billion.