Telecom keeps its loss to a minimum

Telecom continues to defy the odds faced by most telecommunications companies around the world, a report by IR Group says.

Telecom and Telstra outperformed all other telcos in IR's six-monthly survey except for Japan's NTT Corporation, which had a total return of 2.1 per cent.

All others were in the red but Telecom had the smallest loss, returning minus 5.4 per cent while Australian-based telco Telstra returned minus 14.9 per cent last year.

In the previous survey, Telecom led the pack with a return of minus 8.7 per cent and Telstra was second at minus 9.65 per cent for the 12 months to June 30.

The report measured returns by stock price movement and dividends paid.

"The sector is showing slight improvement but is still under pressure."

- NZPA