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Telecom Italia Debt Goal In Sight After Earnings Meet Estimates

A technician performs checks in a Telecom Italia SpA telephone exchange in Rome, Italy, on Tuesday, April 4, 2023. Telecom Italia sold €400 million ($435 million) of bonds as it pushes ahead with the sale of its landline network in a bid to slash the company’s debt pile after interest rates rose. (Alessia Pierdomenico/Bloomberg)

(Bloomberg) -- Telecom Italia SpA posted quarterly earnings that met analyst estimates and reaffirmed its debt reduction targets on growth in Brazil and rising demand for cloud and cybersecurity services.  

Net debt after leases fell below €8 billion in the third quarter following the company’s selloff of its fixed-line network. That’s putting it on track to meet its target of about €7.5 billion by the end of the year, the firm said in a statement on Wednesday.

Telecom Italia in July completed the sale of the network to US private equity firm KKR & Co. in a deal that valued the grid at as much as €22 billion ($23.4 billion). The sale of its most valuable asset has allowed Telecom Italia to slash debt and scale down to better compete in one of the world’s toughest telecoms markets. 

Organic third-quarter earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortization rose 7.6% to €1.1 billion from a year earlier, in line with estimates. 

Group revenue also came in as forecast, rising 3.2% to €3.57 billion, driven by enterprise sales including cloud and cybersecurity services. Sales from the highly competitive Italian consumer market remained stable.

Telecom Italia shares have declined 26% since January, giving the company a market value of about €4.9 billion.

©2024 Bloomberg L.P.