Long-distance telephone company WorldCom said yesterday its second-quarter profits rose 47 percent, in line with Wall Street expectations, but sales growth for second half of the year will be at the low-end of its previous forecast.

WorldCom, whose merger with Sprint collapsed recently, said quarterly profits, excluding onetime items, rose to $1.33 billion, compared with $865 million a year ago.

WorldCom said net income, including one-time items, rose to $1.28 billion, in the second quarter, ended June 30th.

The No 2 US long-distance telephone company said its core communications services revenues rose 14 per cent to $10.2 billion, which was slightly below some analysts expectations.

Data, Internet and international revenues grew 30 per cent to $4.9 billion.