, Columnist
The Sick Man of Corporate Europe
Investors are deeply unimpressed by the phone sector.
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No, it's not the banks for once. Europe's telecom companies have the worst-performing shares in the region this year. It's hard to see what might lift the gloom.
Even after a third quarter in which some operators, including Telefonica SA, Telecom Italia SpA, Deutsche Telekom AG and Orange, delivered respectable if unspectacular results, investors are unimpressed. An index of the sector's shares has fallen 20 percent in 2016, coming in dead last in terms of total returns to shareholders if you add back the effect of dividends. So much for being defensive.