(Reuters) – Australia’s Telstra on Thursday forecast higher underlying core earnings after it posted a 14% jump in annual profit, riding on strong growth in its mobile business and an increase in postpaid prices.
The country’s largest telecoms firm said it expected underlying EBITDA for fiscal 2024 in the range of A$8.2 billion to A$8.4 billion, compared with A$7.86 billion in fiscal 2023.
The upbeat report comes amid the company’s decision to not appeal the Australian Competition Tribunal’s decision to block an asset transfer deal, under which it would have bought spectrum and transmission towers from rival TPG Telecom.
For the year ended June 30, Telstra’s profit attributable was A$1.93 billion ($1.24 billion), compared with A$1.69 billion a year earlier.
The telecoms giant’s income from mobile business rose 8.3% to A$10.26 billion, while its postpaid handheld services revenue increased 6.9% to A$5.39 billion.
“Looking ahead to FY24, lifting customer experience remains my top priority, and I believe that if we are successful in that, we will in turn achieve our growth ambitions,” CEO Vicki Brady said.
The company declared a fully franked final dividend of 8.5 Australian cents per share, the same as last year.
($1 = 1.5571 Australian dollars)
(Reporting by Poonam Behura and Ayushman Ojha in Bengaluru; Editing by Anil D’Silva)
