UPDATE 2-Belgacom outlook, dividend disappoint investors
* 9-months EBITDA 1.488 bln euros vs 1.479 bln euro forecast
* Repeats outlook despite 9-month revenue rise
* Interim dividend of 0.4 euros, from 0.5 euros in 2008
* Share buyback in 2009 unlikely
* Shares fall to seven-week low
(Adds details after conference call, share price, analyst comment)
BRUSSELS, Oct 30 (Reuters) - Belgian telecom operator Belgacom (BCOM.BR) on Friday kept its full-year outlook on hold despite rising revenues and said it would pay a reduced interim dividend, disappointing investors.
Belgacom shares fell as much as 3.9 percent to 25.84 euros, a seven-week low, against a 1.3 percent drop for the DJ Stoxx European telecoms index .SXKP.
Belgacom repeated it expected revenues to drop by around 1 percent this year and that its EBITDA margin would be 32-33 percent in 2009, from 33.3 percent in 2008. [ID:nLU690761]
This was despite revenues rising by 1 percent in the first nine months. The former state monopoly said growing revenues for TV and data compensated for the decline in income from mobile and fixed-line telephone services.
The group will pay out a gross interim dividend of 0.40 euros per share for a total amount of 128 million euros. It paid out 0.50 euros last year.
The lower-than-expected payout was "a minor disappointment" and the forecast did not inspire great confidence, Bank Degroof analyst Siddy Jobe said in a note to clients.
"Belgacom reported an upbeat set of third-quarter results which would have prompted us to increase our forecast, but the fact that the company is maintaining its full-year guidance makes us more cautious to do so," he said.
Chief Executive Didier Bellens said the group wanted to send a signal to its main shareholder, the Belgian state, that it wanted regulatory issues to be resolved as soon as possible.
"We cannot continue to pay subsidies to our competitors ... and we cannot continue to pay big dividends to our shareholders," Bellens told a conference call. Continued...
