NTT 08/09 profit seen falling but may up div-media

TOKYO, May 12 (Reuters) - Nippon Telegraph and Telephone Corp (9432.T: Quote, Profile, Research), Japan's biggest phone company, will likely see an 8-12 percent fall in operating profit this business year due to an absence of special factors that likely boosted its earnings in 2007/08, the Nikkei business daily reported on Monday.

But the company may also hike its dividend by 1,000 yen to 10,000 yen per share in 2008/09, the paper said.

The paper said NTT's group operating profit is expected to be around 1.15-1.2 trillion yen ($11.2-11.7 billion) in the year ending March 2009, against a profit of about 1.3 trillion yen in 2007/08.

The estimated profit for last business year includes a 190 billion yen boost from one-time gains such as a lack of pension benefits that it used to pay to retired employees on behalf of the government, the paper said. Without taking into consideration such special factors, NTT's profit will likely rise this business year, the paper said.

Fifteen analysts polled by Reuters Estimates project on average a 1.21 trillion yen profit in 2008/09.

For 2007/08, the paper said NTT's profit would rise 17 percent, topping the company's own projection of 1.26 trillion yen. That would also be higher than a consensus forecast of 1.28 trillion yen in a poll of 11 analysts by Reuters.

NTT's subsidiaries, including mobile phone operator NTT DoCoMo Inc (9437.T: Quote, Profile, Research) and system integrator NTT Data Corp (9613.T: Quote, Profile, Research), are expected to buoy NTT's earnings, the paper said. NTT officials were not immediately available for comment. The company is scheduled to report its earnings on Tuesday.

Separately, a source familiar with the matter said on Saturday NTT plans to conduct a 100-for-1 stock split to eliminate fractional shares before electronic stock certificates are introduced next year. [ID:nT196682]

($1=103.00 Yen) (Reporting by Sachi Izumi; Editing by Chris Gallagher)