MOSCOW, May 19 (RIA Novosti) - Comstar United Telesystems (RTS: CMST, LSE: CMST) said Thursday its net loss calculated to Russian Accounting Standards was 162.697 mln rubles (about $6.04 mln) in January-March 2006, against a 9.633 mln ruble (about $355,000) net profit in the same period of 2005.
A company spokesman said the loss was due to differences in the exchange rate when the company IPOed on the London Stock Exchange with ordinary registered shares in the form of Global Depositary Receipts.
Comstar UTS revenues in the reporting period were 820.61 mln rubles (about $3.37 mln), 17.9% up year on year.
Gross profits were up 11.3%, at 351.68 mln rubles (about $13 mln), while sales profits were down about 40%, at 20.47 mln rubles (about $760,000).
Comstar UTS is the largest multi-service communications operator in Moscow, Moscow Region, and some Russian regions and former Soviet republics.
The company was formed in November 2004 through a merger of Comstar, MTU-Inform and Telmos. Comstar UTS' main shareholder is AFK Sistema (RTS: AFKS), which has a 54.58% stake in the company.
