Cellnex Shares Climb on Austria Sale Talks, Buyback Hopes

By Adria Calatayud

Cellnex Telecom shares rose after the company said it is in advanced talks to sell its Austrian business, and that it could consider launching share buybacks afterward.

At 0855 GMT, shares in the Spanish telecommunications-infrastructure company traded 3.8% higher at EUR33.41, but remained down 6.3% since the start of the year.

Cellnex said it received binding offers for its Austrian business and is now in advanced negotiations. Once a deal is closed, the company could consider earlier cash distributions to shareholders or share buybacks, it said.

In March, Cellnex said it expected to start returning cash to shareholders by 2026 at the latest, with plans to pay out at least 3 billion euros ($3.25 billion) in dividends until 2030 and an additional amount of more than EUR7 billion available for buybacks, extraordinary dividends or acquisition opportunities.

News of the possible sale of Cellnex's Austrian business came as the company reported a widened net loss of EUR418 million for the first half compared with a loss of EUR196 million, on revenue that increased to EUR1.92 billion from EUR1.795 billion. The widened net loss was due to an impairment loss on the Austria business, the company said.

Adjusted earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization rose 11% to EUR1.58 billion, it said.

Cellnex said it is on track to meet its 2024 outlook.

Write to Adria Calatayud at adria.calatayud@wsj.com

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

August 01, 2024 05:23 ET (09:23 GMT)

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