SAO PAULO, Feb 6 (Reuters) - Brazilian telecommunications operator TIM on Tuesday posted a 53% year-on-year rise in its fourth-quarter net profit, shortly after it forecast its 2024 core earnings should grow, but at a slower pace than 2023.
Brazil's TIM, which is controlled by Telecom Italia , reported in a securities filing a normalized net profit, which strips out one-off items, of 900 million reais ($181.3 million) in the quarter ended in December last year.
This was helped by a 7% rise in normalized net revenue, hitting 6.28 billion reais, as it improved its average revenue per user especially in its core mobile services business, offsetting a shrinking client base.
The company said it had recorded "consistent" performances in both postpaid and prepaid business, and said it would keep the focus on how to better monetize its customer base.
Its core profit margin, measured by normalized earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortization (EBITDA), landed at 50.2%, 0.3 percentage points above the figure a year earlier, while normalized EBITDA grew 8% to 3.15 billion reais.
In a separate filing, the firm also released its yearly guidance, predicting its 2024 EBITDA, which strips out non-recurring items, will rise between 7% and 9% in 2024, a slowdown from last year's 14% growth.
The company added it sees services revenue growing 5% to 7% this year, also slower than in 2023, while 2024 capex should be nearly stable between 4.4 billion and 4.6 billion reais.
($1 = 4.9634 reais) (Reporting by Andre Romani; Editing by Sarah Morland and Chris Reese)
