Overall, sales rose 1.7 percent to 8.34 billion francs, as the largest Swiss telecommunications company announced on Thursday. In the Swiss core business, sales rose slightly by 0.3 percent to 6.15 billion.
In Italy the group was able to grow: the turnover of the broadband subsidiary Fastweb climbed by 4.8 percent.
The profit benefited from a number of one-time effects. This drove Swisscom’s operating profit before depreciation and amortization EBITDA up 3.2 percent to CHF 3.47 billion. The bottom line was that Swisscom made a profit jump to 1.54 billion francs. That is 32 percent more than in the first nine months of 2020.
The main reason is a stake that the Italian broadband subsidiary Fastweb transferred as a capital contribution to the newly founded fiber optic network company FiberCop as part of the strategic partnership with Telecom Italia.
On the other hand, Swisscom is saving additional money of 52 million francs for legal disputes. Swisscom suffered defeats before the Federal Competition Commission and the Federal Administrative Court in the dispute over the structure of the construction of the fiber optic networks.
With the figures, Swisscom slightly missed market expectations in terms of revenue, but exceeded them in terms of profit.
Swisscom is now adjusting the targets again. The group expects sales of around CHF 11.2 billion, after having previously assumed around CHF 11.3 billion. At the same time, the investment target will be increased slightly to CHF 2.3 billion. So far, the group wanted to invest 2.2 to 2.3 billion francs.
The other targets remain unchanged: The group expects an EBITDA of 4.4 to 4.5 billion francs. The dividend will remain at CHF 22 if the goals are achieved.