FRANKFURT (dpa-AFX) - Following solid annual figures and an outlook for 2023 that was largely as expected, Deutsche Telekom shares continued their strong run since the beginning of the year. They rose 0.6 percent to 21.235 euros in a friendly overall market, their highest level since the summer of 2001. In the still young year, Deutsche Telekom's shares have now already gained almost 14 percent, after also rising 14 percent in 2022.

"Deutsche Telekom has once again presented strong figures and its full-year targets are broadly in line with average analyst expectations (consensus)," wrote analyst Mathieu Robilliard of British bank Barclays. He and analyst Akhil Dattani of U.S. bank JPMorgan praised the German business in particular as solid. Service revenue and adjusted operating profit (Ebitda AL) in this country were on target in the final quarter of 2022, Robilliard further wrote. He also said net debt was below consensus, although it beat his own forecast.

Commenting on trends in the German business, Goldman expert Andrew Lee specified that they had "slightly improved" in the fourth quarter compared with the previous quarter. All in all, he considers the forecasts for the current quarter to be "consistent to encouraging". The fact that free cash flow excluding the U.S. business (FCF AL ex U.S.) for the current year was reported at around 3.5 billion euros, while the consensus expected 3.55 billion euros, was due to a one-time additional tax of 150 million euros, according to Lee. "The consensus had probably not taken this into account in connection with the proceeds from Telekom's radio tower sale," he wrote.

The Goldman analyst also recalled that Telekom had raised its annual targets for 2022 several times last year. Lee therefore expects the current forecast for 2023 to be reassuring./ck/ngu/stk