Viridian's half-owned subsidiary Nevada Tele.com has not considered taking a stake in Eircom's fixed-line business, a spokesman said yesterday.
Pre-tax profits at the parent group, the Northern Ireland power company, fell to £40.9 million (€68 million) from £44.8 million sterling in the six months to September 30th.
Nevada, which Viridian coowns with Energis, would concentrate on growing Stentor, the Dublin telecoms group it acquired for £38 million in August, the spokesman said.
Eircom is considered unlikely to accept a €2.25 billion (£1.8 billion) offer for its fixedline division from a consortium led by Esat's founder, Mr Denis O'Brien.
Another businessman, Dr Tony O'Reilly, is reported to be considering a counterbid.
When Viridian's spokesman was asked if it would make a bid, he said: "In any fast-moving sector you never rule anything in and you don't rule anything out. It's not on top of our agenda in any way."
Nevada Tele.com incurred operating losses before goodwill of £1.3 million. The subsidiary would not be profitable in the short term, the group said.
In addition, Viridian's 30 per cent-owned electrical appliance retailer, Lislyn, encountered "difficult" trading conditions.
Viridian's revenues grew by 7.5 per cent to £241.9 million from £225 million in the half-year.
The former electricity monopoly in the North reported a 4 per cent rise in operating profits before goodwill amortisation to £50.4 million from £48.6 million. Its interim dividend increased to 8.06p per share from 7.33p.
The spokesman attributed the fall in pre-tax profits to increased interest payments on Viridian's overall debt, which increased to about £280 million in the half-year period from £150 million.
This reflected what Viridian called "substantial" investment and acquisition activity, including expenditure of almost £100 million on its power and interconnection network.
Its financial services subsidiary Open + Direct acquired two insurance firms, SG Cathcart and Footman James, for £8 million in the period. Operating profits at Open + Direct rose to £7.2 million from £5.4 million.
An electricity generation station planned in north Dublin by Viridian's half-owned subsidiary Huntstown Power should be operational by winter 2002.
