BRUSSELS: Belgian telecoms group Belgacom on Friday raised its 2014 profit forecast after a surprise increase in the third quarter due to improved mobile income and lower costs.
The group repeated its 2014 outlook for revenues to fall between 1 and 2 percent but said its core profit (EBITDA) would be slightly higher than last year. It had previously guided for a decline of between 1 and 2 percent.
The Belgian mobile phone market appears to be stabilising two years after a new law came into force which limited the maximum duration of customer contracts to six months, which sparked increased competition.
The country's second largest operator, Mobistar, on Monday unveiled an increase in customer numbers for the first time since 2012.
For Belgacom, core profit, before one off items, rose 1.5 percent in the third quarter to 431 million euros ($545.4 million), above the 410 million expected in a Reuters poll of nine analysts.
The former state monopoly also said it would pay shareholders an interim dividend of 0.50 euros per share and aimed to pay a total dividend 1.50 euros over the next three years. The figure was 2.18 euros for 2013.
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