Telenor Q1 earnings in line with forecast, repeats outlook

OSLO (Reuters) - Norwegian telecoms operator Telenor on Thursday reported first-quarter earnings in line with expectations and reiterated its financial guidance.

Adjusted earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) for January-March was flat year-on-year at 8.1 billion Norwegian crowns ($755.92 million). Analysts polled in a Refinitiv survey on average had expected 8.2 billion crowns.

Telenor's own earnings consensus had predicted an adjusted EBITDA of 10.1 billion crowns on average, as profits from its Thai unit were still included. It did not immediately provide a comparable figure.

Telenor repeated it expects its Nordic business to show low-to-mid single-digit growth for both service revenues and EBITDA this year, while capital expenditure in the Nordics is expected to be around 17% of revenues.

"We will continue with our Nordic modernisation agenda to drive profitable growth," CEO Sigve Brekke said in a statement.

The operator, which has about 158 million customers across the Nordic region and Asia, announced in September last year it mulled a potential listing of its Asian unit.

Last year it completed a $15 billion merger to form a telecoms leader in Malaysia and completed a $8.6 billion deal in Thailand in March this year.

Both its Malaysian and Thai units are now listed under discontinued operations.

(This story has been officially corrected throughout to show that the earnings consensus figure provided by Telenor was wrong)

($1 = 10.7154 Norwegian crowns)

(Reporting by Victoria Klesty, editing by Gwladys Fouche)