Telecom, Italy’s biggest phone company, said third-quarter profit rose 33 percent, beating estimates, on growth in Latin America and after charges a year earlier to eliminate jobs. The stock climbed 5.3 percent. Net income advanced to 807 million euros ($1.1 billion) from 608 million euros a year earlier, the Milan-based company said in a statement today.
Revenue rose 13 percent to 7.52 billion euros, helped by the consolidation of Telecom Argentina SA. Analysts surveyed by Bloomberg had estimated net income at 708.5 million euros on sales of 7.46 billion euros. A year earlier, Telecom Italia had provisions of 240 million euros for job reductions.
To spur growth abroad, Telecom Italia’s Brazilian unit Tim Participacoes SA in July agreed to buy AES Atimus Group to add network capacity in Sao Paulo and Rio de Janeiro. Tim, which surpassed billionaire Carlos Slim’s America Movil SAB to become Brazil’s second-largest wireless operator, said Nov. 1 that third-quarter profit more than doubled as the company added subscribers and ended subsidies for handset sales.
“The performance in our three main markets, Italy, Brazil and Argentina, has been very satisfactory with a substantial improvement,” Chairman Franco Bernabe said at a press conference in Milan today.
