By Elvira Pollina
MILAN (Reuters) – Telecom Italia (TIM) on Wednesday said it aimed to restart returning money to investors in the 2026-2028 period, as it met expectations with its 2024 earnings and forecast an around 7% rise in core profit this year.
TIM has embarked on a complex turnaround centred on last year’s 18.8 billion euro ($19.5 billion) sale of its prized fixed-line network, which has been challenged in court by its biggest single shareholder, French media Vivendi.
The slimmed-down business is now starting to draw interest from potential investors in an Italian telecoms sector seen as ripe for consolidation.
Updating its strategy, TIM, which has suspended all shareholder payouts since 2022, said it planned to use 350 million euros to reward investors next year, after the sale of the subsea cable unit Sparkle its board approved on Wednesday.
TIM added it aims for overall shareholder payouts of some 1.1 billion euros in the 2027-2028 period.
Earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation after lease costs (EBITDA-AL) rose by 10% in 2024 to 3.7 billion euros, in line with an analyst consensus provided by the company and above TIM’s targeted growth range of 8%-9%.
Net debt after lease as of Dec. 31 fell to 7.3 billion euros from 8 billion euros as of Nov. 30, also meeting analyst forecast.
The company expects its core earnings to rise 5%-6% this year at the domestic level, stripping out Sparkle.
The sale of the subsea cable unit is part of a round of asset disposals aimed at reviving an underperforming business which has struggled with fierce price competition in its home market.($1 = 0.9620 euros)
(Reporting by Elvira Pollina, editing by Keith Weir and Valentina Za)
