Tele2 Q4 Tops Forecast, Launches New Restructuring Program

Swedish telecoms operator Tele2 reported quarterly core earnings above market forecasts on Monday and proposed a higher ordinary dividend and a special dividend to be paid out for 2019.

The company also said it was launching a new transformation programme aimed at boosting growth and cutting costs by at least 1 billion crowns ($105 million) over the coming three years. “From 2020 onward we are aiming for growth and we believe that the foundation we laid in 2019 and initiatives launched in 2020 will take us there,” Tele2 CEO Anders Nilsson said in a statement.

Fourth-quarter adjusted earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortization (EBITDA) were 2.70 billion Swedish crowns, up from 1.88 billion crowns in the year-earlier quarter, and above the 2.63 billion mean analyst forecast according to Refinitiv data. Tele2 proposed an ordinary dividend of 5.50 crowns per share for 2019, up 25% from the previous year, and an extraordinary dividend of 3.50 crowns per share.―Nasdaq