WRAPUP 1-KPN, Telenor post solid Q2 earnings, tweak plans

* KPN, Telenor beat earnings estimates

* KPN lowers sales targets, Telenor cuts capex

* Mobistar keeps 2009 outlook, cuts investment

By Harro Ten Wolde and Wojciech Moskwa

AMSTERDAM/OSLO, July 23 (Reuters) - Mobile use is resisting recession but slowing economies have meant fewer travellers and less demand from businesses, results from Europe's KPN (KPN.AS), Telenor (TEL.OL) and Mobistar (MSTAR.BR) showed on Thursday.

Dutch telecoms group KPN trimmed its 2009 sales target and Norway's Telenor and Mobistar from Belgium both said they would curb spending despite posting solid second quarter results.

KPN lowered its 2009 sales outlook to between 13.6 billion and 13.8 billion euros ($19.63 billion) from an earlier expectation of about 14 billion though kept its core profit and free cash flow targets. [ID:nLN054306]

The company, which is also active in Germany and Belgium, said it expected 2010 revenues to be in line with 2009.

"We continue to see limited economic impact on consumer markets, but business markets are being impacted, and there are no signs of economic recovery as yet," KPN Chief Executive Ad Scheepbouwer said.

"The biggest thing that has happened during the (past) six months is a big downturn in inbound and outbound international traffic, due to fewer tourists and business people travelling," Telenor Chief Financial Officer Trond Weslie told Reuters.

The resilience of mobile telephony to the global downturn is definitely there and it has kept up very well, Weslie said.

Analysts at UBS said that KPN remained a top pick.

"Management acknowledges that reigniting growth may take 2-3 quarters, but this is compensated by a very strong 41.8 percent EBITDA margin," UBS said.

KPN proposed an interim dividend per share of 0.23 euro, and said this year it would make a "meaningful step" towards a planned dividend per share of 0.80 euro in 2010.

"In the past interim dividend always has been one-third of the final dividend. If we would continue that line we would end up at 0.69 euro per share for the full year. But that is not a promise," CEO Scheepbouwer said.

TELENOR TRIMS CAPEX

Telenor, which has operations in 13 countries in Europe and Asia, cut its capital expenditure target, excluding investments in India, to 13 to 15 percent of its revenues from an earlier 15-17 percent. [ID:nLN262634]

The Oslo-based company affirmed its 2009 guidance for an EBITDA margin of around 34 percent but slightly revised its organic growth goal.

"Telenor expects organic revenues in line with 2008, however on the negative side," it said in a statement. It had previously targeted flat 2009 organic sales.

UBS said Telenor operations looked reassuring and that "key areas of outperformance were Bangladesh and Norway, compensating for a weaker performance in Denmark, Malaysia and Serbia".

Bangladesh's top mobile phone carrier Grameenphone, 62 percent owned by Telenor, posted a 10 percent rise in second-quarter revenue to $236 million on Thursday. [ID:nDHA529348]

Telenor said it expects the Pakistan mobile market, one of Telenor's fastest growing, to consolidate after reports that Telenor may be in talks with China Mobile (0941.HK) to sell its Pakistani unit with 20 million subscribers. [ID:nLM195066]

MOBISTAR

Belgium's Mobistar (MSTAR.BR) also trimmed its 2009 capital expenditure plan to around 10 percent of total service revenues from a forecast of 11-12 percent.

Mobistar's first-half core profit at 278.4 million euros was in line with analyst forecasts of 280 million and it will pay out an extraordinary dividend of 1.65 euros per share on Aug. 14.

The company, majority-owned by France Telecom (FTE.PA), aims to achieve a net result of 240-260 million euros, down about 10 percent from 2008.

KPN and Mobistar trade at about 10.3 times 12-month forecast earnings while Telenor is valued at 9.1 times estimated earnings, according to Thomson Reuters StarMine.

(Additional reporting by Antonia Vandevelde in Brussels; Writing by Nicola Leske; Editing by Jason Neely)