Telecom Italia SpA, the country’s largest phone company, slowed its pace of revenue decline last quarter and reported net debt that beat analysts’ estimates, Bloomberg reported. Fourth-quarter sales dropped 4.1% to 5.6b euros ($6.4b), the Milan-based company said in a statement Friday. That compared with a 9.1% decrease reported for the first nine months. Earnings before interest taxes, depreciation and amortization fell 8.4% to 2.2b euros, in line with analysts’ estimates. Chief Executive Officer Marco Patuano, seeking to lift Telecom Italia out of junk status, has sold assets to cut its net debt, which stood at 26.7b euros at the end of last year, almost half a billion euros less than what analysts had projected.
