Telefonica, the Spanish telephony giant which through Telco controls 22% of Telecom Italia, closed the first quarter with a net profit down 54%, to 748 million euros, against expectations of 764 million. To weigh on the accounts was the write-down of 337 million of Telco, the holding shareholder of Telecom Italia. Without considering the extraordinary items, profits would have been 1,28 billion (-26,6%).
The turnover remained stable at 15,5 billion euros, thanks to rapid growth in Latin America – which accounts for around half of the Group's revenues and Ebitda – which offset the European decline. Ebitda fell by 8,8% to 5 billion and Ebit marked a -17,8% to 2,5 billion. Overall customers increased by 6,5% to 309 million.
Latin America Telephone has broken all records in these first three months of 2012. In the South American continent the customer base has increased by 11% to 205 million users, revenues grew by 8,3% to 7,519 billion and Ebitda marked a +0,8% to 2,54 billion.
The Group has confirmed itself leader in Brazil with a market share of 29,8% (90,4 million customers, up 16%), while in Argentina the turnover grew by 18,6% to 869 million and Ebitda by 8,2% to 271 million. Europe slowed down the growth of the Spanish group, which showed revenues down by 6,6% to 7,554 billion and an EBITDA of 2,513 billion (-14,7%).
Il CEO Cesar Alierta said Telefonica's results "reflect the priorities set for the full year" and confirmed the estimates on profit and debt for 2012. At 10.40, Telecom Italia shares lost 0,71% to 0,836 euros per share.
