Telecoms group KPN announced on Wednesday it had booked net profit of €353m in the third quarter of 2008. This is roughly the same as the year earlier period.

Turnover rose by 20% to €3.65bn, mainly due to the takeover of IT services group Getronics.
The operational profit (ebitda) rose nearly 5% to €1.3bn, a fraction higher than analysts had forecast.
The company says the economic crisis has not yet had any effect on its business. But CEO Ad Scheepbouwer said in a statement KPN ‘has measures ready to protect the cash stream if necessary’.
The company also announced it will buy back €1bn-worth of its own shares from November.