The Bulgarian Telecommunication Company (BTC) preserved a modest growth rate in revenue and boosted profit year-on-year for the first half as cigarette product makers cheered and stagnation continued in the tourism sector.

However, BTC’s performance was not backed by its core operations including traffic, subscription fees, etc, but from offloading assets such as real estate, machinery and equipment, according to the firm’s consolidated report.

BTC posted first-half revenue from the sale of tangible assets worth BGN 34.2 million and a profit of BGN 22 million from this operation. It suffered a slide from its core operation, which is selling servicing.

BTC and its owners are in the midst of restructuring of the former state-owned monopoly’s debt to banks. Due to the complex situation, the telecom scrapped dividend payout for the first time since going private in 2004. In 2009, a book loss triggered by write-down of its cell operator did not prevent it from doubling original dividend. The company has still not paid BGN 178 million to its majority owner NEF Telecom Bulgaria, part of the total amount of BGN 360 million it decided to hand out to shareholders.

Meanwhile, cigarette products makers Slantse Stara Zagora Tabac and Yurii Gagarin-Plovdiv also put in a better performance. The former saw sales more than double mostly on the back of a 154% rise in exports. Domestic sales also experienced an increase, even though by a slower 57%.

Cigarette packaging maker Yuri Gagarin BT, which is almost exclusively focused on the domestic market, pulled off a 14% rise in turnover and its profit zoomed.