December 8 (SeeNews) - Telekom Slovenije [LJE:TLSG] said on Thursday it expects a consolidated net profit of 41.3 million euro ($44.5 million) and operating revenues of 717.8 million euro next year.
The group also plans to post earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortization (EBITDA) of 206.8 million euro in 2017, Telekom Slovenije said in a filing with the Ljubljana bourse.
Telekom Slovenije added it has adopted a strategic business plan for the period 2017-2021, under which the group will continue with the accelerated digitalisation of the company, strengthen the core business, and extend its sales range outside its core communications business.
"In this way the company will on the one hand increase the revenues from the ICT services and solutions, while at the same time increase its share in the household and enterprise spending budgets by offering all the most cutting edge services in one place", the telco noted.
Telekom Slovenije will also continue spreading its fibre-optic network, providing its users with high speed internet access, the most advanced broadband contents, and a superior user experience in terms of broadband content.
The network expansion will be carried out where the highest penetration and accordingly the highest revenues are expected per investment, Telekom Slovenije said.
Among the company's strategic guidelines in the 2017–2021 period are also the maintenance of financial stability and consolidation on the markets where the group is present.
"The telecommunications markets of South-Eastern Europe on which Telekom Slovenije Group operates as an alternative operator are also reaching maturity, which will be seen in the coming years as a decline in revenue generated on the market as a whole. Therefore, the group will carry out an accelerated consolidation in these markets, either in the form of expanding its operations or by selling its participating interests", it concluded.
In October, Telekom Slovenije said its consolidated net profit plummeted to 23.5 million euro in the first nine months of 2016 from 72.5 million euro a year earlier due to the one-off effect of the exclusion of its Macedonian unit One from the group's financial results in 2015. It noted it plans to achieve a net profit of 34 million euro and EBITDA of 198 million euro in 2016.
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