Russian telephone operator Vimpelcom closed the second quarter with a net profit of 239 million euros, down 29%, due to higher interest expenses and depreciation costs due to the acquisition of the Italian Wind .
Vimpelcom also took a controlling stake in Orascom Telecom: overall the operations cost six billion dollars. The company's debt thus rose to $24,1 billion from $4,74 as at December 31, 2010.
In reality, if calculated pro forma (and therefore taking into account Wind and Orascom from January 1), the net profit for the second quarter is up by 42% to 312 million dollars, in any case lower than market expectations, elaborated from a pool of analysts contacted by Reuters (556,5 million).
