Telecom Italia Q3 Profit Down 17%; Backs 2013 Outlook - Quick Facts

(RTTNews) - Italian telecom company Telecom Italia Group (TI, TIAOF.PK) reported that its third-quarter net profit attributable to the Parent Company's shareholders declined 27.4 percent to 505 million euros from 696 million euros in the year-ago quarter.

Operating profit (EBIT) for the period decreased 12.4 percent to 1.48 billion euros from 1.69 billion euros last year.

Consolidated revenues for the quarter declined 8.8 percent to 6.63 billion euros from last year's 7.27 billion euros. In terms of organic variation, consolidated revenues were down 1.1 percent.

Looking ahead to fiscal 2013, the company still expects revenues to be essentially stable compared to last year. The company also expects to record a mid-single digit percentage reduction in EBITDA.

Further, the company confirmed 2013 adjusted net financial position to be below 27 billion euros.

Separately, Telecom Italia approved its 2014-2016 strategic plan, which envisages investments of about 9 billion euros over three years in Italy, of which 3.4 billion euros in innovative investments will be made for NGN, LTE and Cloud Computing.

The company also provided financial guidance for the 2014-2016 plan, with revenue CAGR and EBITDA CAGR for 2013-16 remaining stable. Meanwhile, cumulative capex for 2014-16 is seen to be less than 14 billion euros and net debt to EBITDA ratio of 2:1 expected at 2016 (including equity strengthening for more than 1 billion euros.