In the first quarter, Deutsche Telekom increased sales and profits sharply. The Dax company in Bonn announced that sales at the start of the year rose by 6.2 percent to a good 28 billion euros.
Europe’s largest telecom group benefited from its service revenues, which increased disproportionately. At 3.9 billion euros, the profit was more than four times as high as in the previous year. The conclusion of the sale of T-Mobile Netherlands and the partial sale of fiber optics Plus were important for this. But even adjusted for this, the profit of 2.2 billion euros was almost twice as high as a year ago.
Telekom increased its annual targets, as did its American subsidiary T-Mobile US. Earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization including leasing costs (Ebitda AL) for the current year, adjusted for special effects, should be more than 36.6 billion euros, which would have been a little better so far, it said. That would be a small improvement compared to last year’s figure on a pro forma basis, i.e. excluding the disposal of the businesses in Romania and the Netherlands.
Without the distortion caused by end device marketing, the operating result should be more than 35.6 billion euros. Here, too, that would be a little better than promised. With more than ten billion euros, the free inflow of funds should also be slightly higher than targeted. The value in the previous year was 8.8 billion euros.
Deutsche Telekom only increased its stake in T-Mobile US in April. She wants to secure a majority in the Americans sooner or later. The Bonn-based company currently holds 48.4 percent of the American company, which is considered lucrative due to the huge US market. Tim Höttges has contractually agreed until June 2024 to secure T-Mobile US shares from the Japanese company Softbank.
