Deutsche Telekom lifts profit target on growth across Europe, US

By Marleen Kaesebier

(Reuters) -Deutsche Telekom on Thursday raised its full-year core profit guidance and reported a slight consensus beat on the metric in the third quarter, as strong momentum in Europe matched that of its U.S. unit T-Mobile.

“The growth momentum continues unabated on both sides of the Atlantic,” finance chief Christian Illek said in a statement.

Telekom’s shares rose nearly 4% by midday local time, the second biggest gainer on Germany’s blue-chip index.

Europe’s biggest telecoms group by market value said its quarterly adjusted earnings before interest, taxes and amortisation after leases (EBITDA AL) rose 6.4% organically to 11.10 billion euros ($11.70 billion), beating analysts’ average forecast of 11.05 billion.

It now sees its full-year group EBITDA AL at around 43.0 billion euros, after previously forecasting it at about 42.9 billion.

T-Mobile US last month reported a broad beat across its third-quarter figures and slightly raised its annual profit outlook.

In its home market, Telekom’s TV business added 76,000 net new customers in the quarter, up by a half from 51,000 new users in Q3 of last year, bolstered by a change in German regulation and the broadcasting of the Euro 2024 soccer championships, Illek said in a conference call.

Germany’s TV broadcast market is shifting after a law change preventing landlords from including TV services in housing rental contracts, including in bulk in apartment blocks, came into full effect in July.

British rival Vodafone on Tuesday reported a sharp Q2 downturn in its German business, hit by losses of TV customers.

Telekom also posted 32% growth in its free cash flow, a metric closely watched by investors to help determine dividend payouts, to 6.2 billion euros in the quarter.

During its Capital Markets Day event in October, Telekom said it aimed to generate more than 15 billion euros in cash by 2027. Aside from dividends and investments, it said this money could be used in other ways such as raising the stake in T-Mobile US or buying back more shares.

($1 = 0.9484 euros)

(Reporting by Marleen Kaesebier in Gdansk; Editing by Muralikumar Anantharaman and Milla Nissi)