MILAN: Italian telecommunications operator Telecom Italia posted on Friday better-than-expected results thanks to Latin American divisions and mooted a modest dividend to protect its credit rating.
The company said provisional figures showed that core earnings had gained 7.3 percent to 12.246 billion euros ($16.37 billion), on sales that were 8.7 percent higher at 29.958 billion euros.
The company's earnings were boosted "above all thanks to stronger results from Argentina and Brazil," a statement said.
Net profit is to be published with final results on March 29.
Investors were cheered by the numbers and the telecoms stock jumped by 5.42 percent to 0.8555 euros in morning trades, while the overall market showed a gain of 0.37 percent.
But the telecoms operator noted that "in light of the recent worsening of the macroeconomic climate and coherently with the goal to maintain the Telecom Italia credit rating," the board would propose a total dividend of "around 900 million euros."
The decision "contributes to confirming the path towards debt reduction outlined in the previous business plan" and once that target had been reached, "shareholder remuneration will return to growth."
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