French conglomerate Bouygues raised its full-year core earnings and cost savings targets for its telecom business on Thursday as it posted a 51 percent rise in first-half group current operating profit. The company now expects earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) at Bouygues Telecom to rise to around 750 million euros ($850 million) this year from 694 million last year. It previously forecast stable profit.
"Thanks to a good commercial performance, and tight control of marketing and operating costs, the outlook for Bouygues Telecom has been revised upwards," Bouygues said in a statement. Bouygues Telecom will also "significantly" exceed its target for 300 million euros of cost savings in 2016 versus the end of 2013, the company added. In June, Bouygues head Martin Bouygues rebuffed a 10 billion euro bid for Bouygues Telecom, France's third-largest mobile operator, by Altice, the holding company of tycoon Patrick Drahi.