Several Regional Bells Ring Up Higher Profits

Second-quarter profits were up 5.5% at Bell Atlantic Corp. and flat at Nynex Corp., while stock offerings contributed to earnings gains of 25% at U S West Inc. and 121% at Contel Corp., the phone companies said Thursday.

Bell Atlantic, the Philadelphia-based regional Bell holding company, said its earnings rose to $344.1 million from $326.1 million a year earlier. Revenue fell 2.3% to $2.58 billion.

For the six-month period, Bell Atlantic said its earnings rose to $673.2 million from $633.6 million a year earlier. Revenue rose to $5.08 billion from $5.11 billion.

Nynex, the New York-based regional Bell company for New York and New England, said its profit edged up to $322.8 million from $322.7 million a year earlier. Revenue rose 5.3% to $3.17 billion.

For the first six months of the year, Nynex said its profit rose to $633.9 million from $621.9 million a year earlier. Revenue rose to $6.24 billion from $5.90 billion.

U S West, the regional Bell company based in Denver, said it earned $336.3 million, up from $268.8 million a year earlier. The results were helped by an after-tax gain of $88.7 million from the sale of stock in its cellular and paging subsidiary. Revenue rose to $2.21 billion from $2.11 billion.

For the first six months, U S West said its earnings rose to $576.8 million from $473 million a year earlier. Revenue rose 5.3% to $4.37 billion.

Contel, a non-Bell company based in Atlanta that provides local phone service in 31 states, said its profit rose to $104.5 million from $47.4 million a year earlier. Those results include an after-tax gain of $43.4 million from a stock offering in its cellular phone subsidiary.

Excluding the stock offering and other one-time factors, earnings per share from recurring operations rose 20%, Contel said.

Second-quarter revenue rose 12% to $788.3 million.