Telia core profit slightly beats expectations in first quarter

(Corrects paragraph 4 to show CEO was referring to Norway)

By Alessandro Parodi

(Reuters) -Swedish telecoms operator Telia reported first-quarter adjusted core earnings slightly above market expectations on Thursday and confirmed its outlook for 2025.

Adjusted operating profit before depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) rose to 7.80 billion Swedish crowns ($805.5 million) from 7.14 billion crowns a year earlier. Analysts, on average, had forecast a profit of 7.70 billion crowns, a poll provided by Telia showed.

The group reiterated its forecast, provided in October, for adjusted EBITDA growth of at least 5% and service revenue growth of around 2%, both on a like-for-like basis.

"Service revenue and EBITDA (in Norway) are both expected to decline further in 2025 before improving, owing in part to the expiry of a mobile wholesale contract," CEO Patrik Hofbauer said in a statement.

Telia, which provides telecom services and operates TV channels in the Nordic and Baltic countries, has been grappling with lower ad sales in its media business as inflation-hit companies tighten their advertising budgets.

In February, it said it would sell its TV and media business to Norway's Schibsted Media for an enterprise value of 6.55 billion Swedish crowns on a cash and debt-free basis.

It said at the time it would book a non-cash impairment of around 2 billion crowns on the deal and would use the proceeds from the sale to reduce its own debt.

The unit had returned to sales growth and positive core earnings in the second quarter of last year after Telia launched a cost-cutting overhaul, helping it to slightly raise its 2024 profit outlook in October.

($1 = 9.6837 Swedish crowns)

(Reporting by Alessandro Parodi in Gdansk; Editing by Christopher Cushing and Sonia Cheema)