Sprint forecasts jump in full-year operating income

The logo of U.S. mobile network operator Sprint Corp is seen at a Sprint store in San Marcos, California August 3, 2015.

Reuters/Mike Blake

Sprint Corp, the No.4 U.S. wireless carrier, forecast a jump in full-year operating income as it continues to slash costs to offset the heavy discounts it had offered to attract customers.

The company’s shares were up 6 percent at $3.70 in premarket trading.

Sprint, majority-owned by Japan’s SoftBank Group Corp, said it expected operating income for the year ending March 2017 to be $1 billion-$1.5 billion, a big rise from the $310 million in operating income it posted for the year ended March 31.

The Overland Park, Kansas-based company added 447,000 subscribers in the fourth quarter ended March 31, trailing the average analyst estimate of 518,100, according to research firm FactSet StreetAccount.

Sprint has been offering deep discounts to win customers in a saturated market from larger rivals Verizon Communications Inc, AT&T Inc and T-Mobile US Inc.

It has also been reining in costs, recently shuttering call centers and slashing jobs to save about $2 billion to $2.5 billion.

The company also stuck to its forecast of about $9.5 billion to $10 billion in adjusted earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization (EBITDA) for the year ending March 2017.

The company’s net operating revenue fell to $8.07 billion in the fourth quarter from $8.28 billion a year earlier.

Sprint’s net loss widened to $554 million, or 14 cents per share, from $224 million, or 6 cents per share.

Analysts on average had expected a loss of 12 cents and revenue of $8.06 billion, according to Thomson Reuters I/B/E/S.

(Reporting by Sai Sachin R in Bengaluru; Editing by Savio D’Souza and Don Sebastian)