By Gabriele Steinhauser

BRUSSELS--Belgian telecommunications company Proximus (PROX.BT) posted a 13% drop in first-quarter net profit as total income declined, especially in its operations outside Belgium.

Proximus' net profit was 112 million euros ($128.63 million) at the end of March, down from EUR129 million a year earlier. Total income, meanwhile, dipped 3.3% to EUR1.43 billion from EUR1.48 billion. The company, which is majority-owned by the Belgian state, provides land-line and mobile telecommunications and Internet and cable services.

The decline in income was most pronounced in Proximus' operations outside Belgium, which it has dubbed BICS. In those countries, underlying revenue dropped 11%, compared with a 0.3% decline at home.

Despite the first quarter results, Proximus confirmed that it still expects domestic underlying revenue and total underlying earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization to increase slightly in 2016. It also still plans to pay a dividend of EUR1.50 a share.

The company said another European Union-driven price decline for using mobile phones abroad, which came into effect at the end of April, will have a limited negative impact on its results. That change will hit 2016 revenue and Ebitda by EUR28 million, it said. However, the company said that increased usage prompted by lower costs will limit the net impact of the price decline.

Proximus didn't give details of how it would fare once roaming charges are eliminated entirely, which is planned for June 15, 2017.

-Write to Gabriele Steinhauser at gabriele.steinhauser@wsj.com

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

May 04, 2016 01:55 ET (05:55 GMT)

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