Spark has downgraded its guidance for the 12 months to the end of June 2024, with results potentially lower than the prior financial year.
An announcement to the New Zealand Stock Exchange (NZX) on Monday morning stated that the telco would be reducing its earnings before investment, taxes, depreciation, amortisation and interest (ebitdai) down from between $1.215 billion and $1.260b to $1.170b-$1.210b.
This reduction puts the midpoint of Spark’s full-year guidance at $1.190b, below the company’s $1.193b adjusted ebitdai for the 2023 financial year.
Forsyth Barr senior analyst Aaron Ibbotson said the downgrade was a surprise, “because Spark basically never downgrades”.
Ibbotson said said it could raise questions from investors about whether the IT part of the business was the “growth engine” Spark has made it out to be, and was “for sure a bit of a dent in the confidence around that part of the business”.
