Berlin Deutsche Telekom is more optimistic about the full year after an increase in earnings in the first quarter. “This was a strong start to the new year,” CFO Christian Illek said on Friday. “We are continuing to grow organically and are therefore in a position to raise our forecast for 2022.“
The Bonn-based Dax Group now expects an adjusted operating result (Ebitda AL) of more than EUR 36.6 billion. So far, around 36.5 billion euros have been promised. In the first quarter, Ebitda AL climbed by 6.8 percent to EUR 9.9 billion, while sales increased by 6.2 percent to EUR 28 billion. Both were above analysts’ forecasts.
The most important pillar in Bonn’s business continues to be the US subsidiary T-Mobile US. In the competitive US market with the top dogs AT&T and Verizon, around 64 percent of Group sales were generated. In the meantime, the Bonn-based company has expanded its stake in T-Mobile US to 48.4 percent and bought shares from Softbank for $ 2.4 billion, but according to company CEO Timotheus Höttges, they are aiming for a controlling majority “soon”.
The sale of the radio tower business, which insiders say has now been launched, could also serve as financing. Accordingly, the Group accepts bids for the acquisition of a majority as well as a minority. According to previous statements by insiders, Vodafone subsidiary Vantage Towers, a consortium led by KKR and Global Infrastructure Partners (GIP) are interested in both variants. In the meantime, Deutsche Telekom expanded the operating result of the radio tower business by 10.2 percent to EUR 173 million and has now increased the number of locations to 40,500.
Measured in terms of operating profit and new customer business, it was almost all over the globe. The major customer business T-Systems continues to struggle. Thanks to extensive savings, the operating result jumped by 18 percent, but sales fell slightly to one billion euros. Incoming orders were positive, rising by 23 percent.
Internally, the collective agreement reached with the Verdi trade union on Thursday, according to which the salaries of around 55,000 employees will be increased by up to 5.2 percent in two stages, is likely to create a good atmosphere. Verdi negotiator Frank Sauerland spoke of a good result, which creates security and perspective for the employees of Deutsche Telekom.
Editor’s note: An earlier version of this article was overwritten with “Deutsche Telekom slightly increases forecast for 2023”. However, the forecast increase relates to the current financial year.
