Norway’s Telenor raises once-a-year outlook as Asian marketplaces extend

STOCKHOLM/OSLO (Reuters) -Telenor elevated its entire-12 months earnings outlook on Tuesday, irrespective of the Norwegian telecoms operator submitting a weaker-than-envisioned quarterly earnings on the adverse influence of currency results.

Modified earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) for April-June slumped to 12.35 billion Norwegian crowns ($1.38 billion), from 13.18 billion crowns a yr earlier. Analysts in a corporation-compiled poll, on normal, had expected 12.7 billion crowns.

“Telenor returned to development in the next quarter. The progress was driven by strong general performance in the Nordics, mixed with a escalating subscriber base and increased information usage in the Asian markets,” Main Government Signe Brekke claimed in a assertion.

Telenor reported damaging currency consequences, however, offset an fundamental enhancement by reducing its EBITDA by 1.6 billion crowns.

The enterprise, which designs to market its Myanmar telecom assets, now expects natural and organic membership and targeted visitors revenue expansion of -1% and natural EBITDA progress of -2%, up from a former forecast of maintaining the 2020 degree. Telenor kept its forecast for the capex-to-profits ratio unchanged at 15-16%.

Telenor, which serves 170 million cutomers in 9 international locations across Europe and Asia, wrote off the value of its Myanmar operations earlier this yr following a army coup, and the small business is now excluded from its reporting.

Citing difficulties of running below the army junta, Telenor in July agreed to provide its enterprise in the Southeast Asian country to Lebanese investment company M1 Group for $105 million.

Separately, the Oslo-shown agency agreed to merge its Malaysian cell functions with local rival Axiata, forming a new current market chief.

($1 = 8.9672 Norwegian crowns)

(Reporting by Supantha Mukherjee in Stockholm and Nora Buli in Oslo Modifying by Niklas Pollard and Sherry Jacob-Phillips)