MADRID (Reuters) - Spain's Telefonica (NYSE:TEF) forecast steady revenue and earnings growth for 2023, sending the telecom firm's shares higher on Thursday after it posted on-target numbers for last year.
Telefonica said it expected overall revenue including its British joint-venture and excluding currency swings and M&A effects, to rise at "a low single digit rate" in 2023 after a 4% increase last year.
Its core earnings are expected to rise at the same pace as revenue, after 3% growth in 2022.
"The macroeconomic hypotheses are a little better than we had a quarter ago about inflation and energy prices," CEO Jose Maria Alvarez-Pallete said in a statement.
"We are well positioned to continue on the path of profitable growth," he said, adding that the company would review guidance at the half-year mark, as it had in 2022 when it upgraded the forecast.
Telefonica shares were up 2% in mid-afternoon trading.
The firm has unloaded assets to cut a previously crippling debt pile and raise cash to invest in new technologies such as rolling out a 5G network.
The company booked a net profit of 2.01 billion euros ($2.14 billion) in 2022, slightly above the 1.95 billion expected by analysts polled by Refinitiv but down 75% from 2021, when Telefonica booked capital gains on mobile tower sales and a tie-up between its O2 unit and Britain's Virgin Media.
Core earnings fell 42% to 12.85 billion euros in 2022 but were up 3% organically, while overall revenue edged up to 39.99 billion euros from 39.28 billion.
Fourth quarter net profit amounted to 525 million euros on revenue of 10.2 billion euros, up from 9.67 billion euros a year earlier.
"Net profit came broadly in line with consensus estimates although on the operating front the figures were above expectations," Capital Markets brokerage analysts said in a note to investors.
The company held its dividend at 0.30 euros per share.
($1 = 0.9412 euros)