Eurobites: Cattaneo Hopes for €30M Kiss-Off

Formerly owned by Vivendi and since 2013 a part of Etisalat , Morocco's Maroc Telecom has revised its full-year financial outlook following its half-year results, predicting a slight decrease in revenues (due to regulatory measures) and stable EBITDA. During the first six months of 2017 Maroc Telecom recorded a 2.8% year-on-year drop in revenues, to 17.09 billion Moroccan Dirham ($1.79 billion), while EBITDA remained flat at MAD8.52 billion ($894 million). There were a number of exceptional items during the accounts period, including the finalization of a voluntary redundancy plan for 1,068 employees (to date) and the payment for the second part of the global license obtained in Ivory Cost in March 2016 for MAD1.6 billion ($167 million).

The former head of Xerox Corp. (NYSE: XRX), Ursula Burns, has been elected as chairman of the supervisory board of VEON, the Russia-based group previously known as VimpelCom. Guy Laurence, a telecom veteran with spells at Rogers Communications and Vodafone behind him, has also been elected to the board. Alexey Reznikovich, the outgoing chairman, will continue to serve as a member of the board.

Nokia Corp. (NYSE: NOK) is changing the financial reporting structure for its Networks business, breaking it down into three "reportable" segments, namely Ultra Broadband Networks (comprising products that were previously part of the Mobile Networks and Fixed Networks business groups); Global Services (comprising services that previously fell within the Mobile Networks group); and IP Networks and Applications (comprising what were the separate IP/Optical Networks and Applications & Analytics business groups). For details of how this jiggery-pokery affects previously published results, see this press release.

— Paul Rainford, Assistant Editor, Europe, Light Reading