Deutsche Telekom: issued a profit warning only a few weeks after a positive forecast

[FT] Last week, DT became the first big European telecoms operator to issue a profit warning this year, just eight weeks after saying it could repeat its 2008 earnings performance in 2009.

As well as denting Mr Obermann’s credibility, the warning scared investors. Some feared DT’s profit warning indicated telecoms operators were no longer a safe haven in the global recession.

In the telecoms industry, it is the mobile phone makers and network equipment manufacturers that have felt the pain in the downturn, partly because consumers are buying fewer handsets. By contrast, most of the large fixed-line phone and mobile operators have fared relatively well.

Several analysts said they thought that DT’s profit warning highlighted company-specific problems, notably at its T-Mobile unit, and did not point to the prospect of further earnings disappointments by other telecoms operators.

D Telekom retreats from earnings claim