March 26 (Bloomberg) -- United Internet AG, Germany’s third-largest Web-access provider, posted a fourth-quarter net loss on writedowns and the global decline in advertising spending. It reaffirmed it won’t pay a dividend for 2008.

The fourth-quarter net loss including writedowns was 108 million euros ($146.8 million), or 46 cents a share, after a net profit of 40.1 million euros, or 16 cents a share, a year earlier, the Montabaur-based company said in a statement yesterday. Sales rose 3.3 percent to 427.8 million euros over the same period.

In November, United Internet forecast growth of 10 percent for full-year sales, and earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization, and wrote down 145.6 million euros on its stakes in peers Freenet AG and Drillisch AG. Chief Executive Officer Ralph Dommermuth then also said the company won’t be able to pay a dividend for 2008.

Mobile-phone company Drillisch, based in Maintal, Germany, yesterday also reported a loss of 184.1 million euros for 2008 from a year-earlier profit of 24.3 million euros as sales dropped 3.2 percent to 350.1 million euros.

The number of fee-based customer contracts at United Internet increased to 7.95 million as of Dec. 31, 2008, compared to 7.15 million during the prior year. The number of digital subscriber line, or DSL, clients climbed to 2.82 million from 2.59 million.

“United Internet got off to a good start in the new year,” the company said in the statement. “A slight increase in sales is expected for 2009. The company aims to maintain its record EBITDA and EBIT figures of 2008 also in 2009.”

Deutsche Telekom AG, Europe’s largest phone company, said earlier this month that it had 50 percent of the market for digital subscriber lines, or DSL, in Germany in the fourth quarter.

To contact the reporter on this story: Nadja Brandt in Los Angeles at nbrandt@bloomberg.net

Last Updated: March 25, 2009 19:26 EDT