FRANKFURT (Reuters) - Telefonica Deutschland <O2Dn.DE> slightly raised its core profit guidance for 2018 after another steady quarter, although Germany's No.3 mobile operator by revenues posted another loss at the bottom line.
Revenues declined by 1.1 percent to 1.830 billion euros in the third quarter at the operator of the 02 brand that is controlled by Spain's Telefonica <TEF.MC>, just above the mean forecast in a poll of analysts of 1.825 billion.
Operating income before depreciation and amortisation (OIBDA), the core earnings metric favoured by management, rose by 3.2 percent to 461 million euros. After exceptional items and regulatory effects, OIBDA rose 5.6 percent to 494 million euros.
The company, whose mobile-first strategy puts it in a challenging position as Germany prepares to auction 5G operating licences, posted a 30 million euro net loss in the third quarter, down from a loss of 39 million euros a year earlier.
The company raised its guidance for OIBDA to "slightly positive" for 2018 as a whole and confirmed its expectation for broadly stable revenues - both after stripping out regulatory effects. CEO Markus Haas also said he would propose a 2018 dividend of 27 euro cents, up one cent.
(Reporting by Douglas Busvine, editing by Riham Alkousaa)
