BST 4Q05

BellSouth reports reported Wednesday a 54% drop in fourth-quarter profit on a slight increase in revenue and heavy hurricane-related costs. BST earned $618 million for the three months ending Dec. 31, compared to last year's profit of $1.36 billion. Excluding one-time items, BellSouth said it earned $965 million. Revenue in the quarter rose 1.9 percent to $5.24 billion, compared to $5.15 billion in the same three-month period a year ago. Forbes writes, "For all of 2005, BellSouth earned $3.29 billion, compared to a profit of $4.76 billion for the same period a year ago. Twelve-month revenue rose 1.2 percent to $20.55 billion, compared to $20.3 billion in 2004." ---> $20B in annual revenue!!!