Telecom Italia (TIM) General Manager Pietro Labriola poses for a portrait next to the company’s name at TIM’s headquarters in Rome, Italy, January 17, 2022. REUTERS/Guglielmo Mangiapane
MILAN, Aug 4 (Reuters) – Talks between Telecom Italia ( TIM ) ( TLIT.MI ) and state lender CDP to form a single network operator have not been halted by an early election due to be held in Italy next month, said TIM’s CEO. Thursday, citing remarks made by a top CDP official.
“Things are progressing, the political environment is not blocking activity,” TIM CEO Pietro Labriola told analysts, noting remarks by Pierpaolo Di Stefano, the CDP director in charge of the single network project.
“This is not a Pietro Labriola or TIM statement, it’s a CDP statement,” Labriola added during a conference call to discuss quarterly earnings.
LESS GLOOMY
Labriola was speaking after TIM trimmed its expected profit fall for 2022 after cost-cutting and the contribution from the company’s Brazilian subsidiary helped second-quarter earnings. See the article : The Advantages and Disadvantages of Netflix Addition of an Ad-Supported Layer. Read more
The executive said the company had kept unchanged its forecast of a “low single-digit” revenue decline this year to reflect a challenging macroeconomic environment, including slowing growth and rising inflation.
TIM shares fell 1.35% to around €0.22 after rising in the previous session on the less gloomy profit outlook.
TIM is also considering a sale of a minority stake in the so-called TIM Enterprise business unit, which combines its connectivity services for large customers as well as cloud, cybersecurity and Internet of Things operations.
Besides CVC, which made a non-binding bid for the venture in March, other players have expressed interest after the unit was unveiled at a capital markets day in July.
“So now we’re working on trying to understand how we can extract the maximum value from this area,” the director added.
Register now for FREE unlimited access to Reuters.com
Report by Elvira Pollina On the same subject : Netflix’s ‘Grey Man’ Marketing Bombardment: Emojis, TV Ads and a Streetcar.
Editing by Keith Weir
