Norway's Telenor beats Q2 earnings expectations

(Reuters) -Norwegian telecom operator Telenor reported second-quarter earnings that were above analysts' expectations on Friday, benefiting from a strong performance in the Nordics.

Telenor's earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) before other items rose to 9.32 billion Norwegian crowns ($907.21 million) from 8.79 billion a year earlier.

Analysts, on average, had expected earnings of 8.91 billion crowns in a company-compiled poll.

The company hiked its Nordic full-year adjusted EBITDA outlook to high single-digit organic growth from a previous mid single-digit forecast.

For 2025, Telenor expects mid single-digit organic growth in adjusted EBITDA, up from a previous low-to-mid single-digit forecast.

In the Nordics, service revenues grew by 3.7% organically, mainly due to 5.6% growth in mobile, Telenor said in a statement.

Telenor has faced challenges in Bangladesh due to the challenging macro-economic situation but Telenor Pakistan has posted a strong performance in recent quarters.

The company's Bangladesh operations are owned by Grameenphone, a joint venture in which Telenor holds a 55.8% stake.

Telenor CEO Benedicte Schilbred Fasmer said that any recovery in Bangladesh was not likely to gain momentum until next year.

($1 = 10.2733 Norwegian crowns)

(Reporting by Elviira Luoma, editing by Matt Scuffham)