Europe's top phone carrier Deutsche Telekom cast a lure for investors on Thursday by vowing to pay an "attractive" dividend next year, but it left them snapping for details until the autumn.
Chief Executive Kai-Uwe Ricke, who scrapped dividend payments in 2002 to pay down debt, upgraded his wording slightly, having previously spoken of a "meaningful" dividend.
But apart from vague hints at the group's news conference, he and Chief Financial Officer Karl-Gerhard Eick put off explaining the dividend policy they would pursue in the future until the group reports third-quarter earnings in November.
"There are three parameters for determining the dividend," Ricke said. "Free cash-flow, net profit and equity ratio."
"We are aware of the significance of the dividend, and of course we are comparing ourselves to the industry," he added.
Some investors had hoped for more on a day when Deutsche Telekom promised to double net profits to 2.5 billion euros ($3.1 billion).
"Unfortunately, the dividend statement is a bit wishy-washy," said Frank Heise at Union Investment, Germany's third-largest fund and one of the biggest institutional shareholders in Deutsche Telekom.
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