Swedish conglomerate Kinnevik, which has interests ranging from forestry to telecoms, has reported a slim first-half profit of $7.8m (SEK72m), compared to a loss of $58.8m (SEK541m) the previous year, which was mainly due to its divestment of Sweden's TV1000 channels.

Kinnevik sold its two TV1000 movie channels to local media entity Modern Times Group for $126m (SEK1.16bn) earlier this year (Screendaily, March 27). MTG was given an option to acquire the channels when Kinnevik divested its shares in the company in 1997.

Kinnevik's losses from associate companies widened to $73.9m (SEK680m) from $62.6m (SEK576m), during the period, including $63.9m (SEK588m) from its 39% stake in Luxembourg telecoms provider Societe Europeenne de Communication (SEC). Kinnevik's shareholders recently approved SEC's takeover by Scandinavian telecoms provider NetCom which would bring the Swedish company a windfall gain of about $761m (SEK7bn) based on NetCom's August 14 share price.