A drop by 43.9 % was posted Friday by Telecom Corp., New Zealand's biggest listed company, in its annual net profit to 398 million New Zealand dollars ($270 million), due to higher expenses and lower sales in its retail division and Australian subsidiary.

A plunge by 2% was seen in revenue for the year through 30th June to $3.8 billion. On the other hand, adjusted expenses were $2.6 billion, a 1 percent increase on the previous year.

The company did witness minor growth in the wholesale and international divisions.

The company said via a statement: "Adjustments included impairment charges of $68 million to write off goodwill relating to the acquisition of PowerTel and costs resulting from the launch of its new mobile network, both in the second quarter."

Telecom, which predicted the potential exists for the impact to increase, said that the effect of the business slowdown caused by New Zealand's economic downturn was NZ$40 million ($27 million) over the year.

The company announced a Q4 dividend of 6 cents a share, compared to 8 cents last year.