Of course Simon will speak – Telecom

Eyebrows were raised when Telecom sent invites to its annual result briefing on Friday morning, stating:

Telecom's Chief Executive Officer (Acting), Chris Quin, and Chief Financial Officer, Nick Olson, who will discuss the results and answer questions.

No mention was made of new CEO and managing director Simon Moutter, who was appointed on April 23 and started August 13.

A Telecom rep later told NBR ONLINE "Simon will be attending" then, later again, "Of course, Simon will speak."

Telecom has always used its results briefings to look forward as well as back, talking strategy and providing profit guidance.

But by emphasising that Messrs Quin and Olson will lead on Friday, the company seems to be dampening expectations its new boss will make any big vision statement.

One will hope Moutter will have at least a couple of big ideas for shareholders on Friday, given it's now been five months since he won the big chair.

He has been in regular contact with acting boss Mr Quin and, of course, this is his second tour of duty with the company. As Deutsche Bank's Geoff Zame said, he should be able to hit the ground running.

6-month NZX performance: Telecom (blue) vs NZX50. Source: S&P Capital IQ. Click to zoom.

Meanwhile, Quin has been far from quiet, pushing Telecom's 4G mobile trial, and outlining Telecom's residential UFB fibre strategy (including a kick-off early next year, and a focus on content and other value-added services).

And last night, Telecom unveiled a killer new budget mobile plan, indicating a big push to regain customers (at its last briefing, it lost 180,000 customers).

Investors will be looking for more detail in those two key areas, especially Vodafone's pending takeover of TelstraClear.

Telecom 12-month NZX performance. Chorus was split off in Nov 11. Source: S&P Capital IQ. Click to zoom.

Telecom (blue) vs Chorus. Index: November split = 100. Source: S&P Capital IQ. Click to zoom.

The fact Mr Quin will lead the session indicates the unsuccessful CEO candidate will be stickng around, at least for a while.

A second unsuccessful candidate, Telecom Retail chief executive Alan Gourdie, has already resigned.

A lot more change will be ahead. But don't look for a lot of it to be announced on Friday.

It will be Telecom's first half-year report since network/wholesale division Chorus was spun off, leaving the company as just another retailer.

Analysts are expecting net earnings at the top end of Telecom's guidance ($160 -$190 million). Read more analyst preview comment here.

Telecom 5-year NZX performance. Source: S&P Capital IQ. Click to zoom.