MOSCOW, August 16 (RIA Novosti) - Comstar United Telesystems [RTS: CMST] said Wednesday its net loss calculated to Russian Accounting Standards was 2.3 billion rubles (about $86.88 mln) in January-June 2006, against 84.23 mln rubles (about $3.1 mln) in net profit for the same period of 2005.
Comstar UTS, the largest multi-service communications operator in Moscow and the Moscow Region, and also in several Russian regions and former Soviet republics, said the company's net loss was a result of the revaluation of investment in the shares of its subsidiaries, and the influence of exchange rate differences on their prices.
The company, which was formed in November 2004 through a merger of Comstar, MTU-Inform and Telmos, said its earnings had grown 16.8% in the reporting period to 1.71 billion rubles (about $63.5 million) while gross profit slipped 1% to 702.5 million rubles (about $26 million).
Comstar UTS' main shareholder is AFK Sistema [RTS: AFKS], which has a 54.58% stake in the company.
