Telecom Italia is gearing up to offer an alternative to US fund KKR's hefty €10.8bn (£9bn) takeover bid. The former phone monopoly is due to report its annual results this week, which are likely to show the difficult road ahead for the firm. In January it appointed its fifth executive in six years, Pietro Labriola, and analysts are expecting a 11 per cent annual fall in core profit after leases.

(c) 2022 City A.M., source Newspaper