MILAN: Shares in Telecom Italia (TIM), Italy’s largest telecommunications operator, plunged 11.4 percent on the Milan stock exchange at opening on Thursday following its announcement of major losses.

The group had late Wednesday reported a loss of 8.65 billion euros ($9.62 billion) in 2021, stemming from an assets depreciation of 4.1 billion euros.

Shares were worth 0.3045 euros at around 9:30 a.m. local time (0830 GMT).

In 2020, TIM posted a net profit of 7.22 billion euros, inflated by a tax windfall that contributed 5.9 billion euros.

In the interim, the tax system has changed.

But the 2021 loss was still worse than analysts had expected, according to financial information provider Factset Estimates, which anticipated a small profit of 85 million euros.