Telefonica predicts profits drop due to Venezuelan devaluation
www.WirelessFederation.com/news: Due to Venezuela’s rising inflation and the devaluation of the Bolivar, the net profit of Telefonica will be reduced by nearly EUR 548 million. Telefonica’s second largest revenue generator in Latin America is Venezuela which accounted for almost 7 percent of revenues in the first nine months of 2009.
However, the company feels that the fiscal gains of EUR 591 million from a Spanish law would offset the loss. Spanish law allows firms to deduct from taxes goodwill charges from foreign acquisitions and spread that deduction over a 20-year-period.
Venezuela’s President Hugo Chavez devalued the Venezuelan currency in relation to the US dollar by 50 percent on January 8, 2010, to an exchange rate of VEF 4.3 per dollar from VEF 2.15, and set a rate of VEF 2.6 per dollar for imports of essential items such as food and medicine. After this devaluation, the value of the assets of Telefonica became EUR 1.81 billion less.
This led to the reiteration of earnings targets by Telefonica.
Turkcell reports 2008 full year results (Turkey)
Turkcell, the leading provider of mobile communications services in Turkey, announced results for the fourth quarter and year ended December 31, 2008. Turkcell Iletisim Hizmetleri A.S. Results for the Full Year 2008:
- The Group recorded solid financial results despite the volatile global markets, which resulted in a sharp 25% devaluation of TRY against USD in the fourth quarter of 2008, and adversely impacted our results for the full year 2008
- Revenue increased by 10.1% to US$7.0 billion (US$6.3 billion) due to higher usage, subscriber growth, tariff increases and the positive contribution of our consolidated subsidiaries
- EBITDA* decreased by 1.8% to US$2.6 billion (US$2.6 billion) on an annual basis. EBITDA margin was 37.0% (41.5%)
- Net income grew to US$1.8 billion (US$1.4 billion), up by 36.0% on an annual basis
- Turkcell’s subscriber base grew by 4.5% on an annual basis to 37.0 million (35.4 million) as of December 31, 2008
- Average revenue per user (“ARPU”) remained flat at US$14.5 (US$14.3)
- Blended minutes of usage per subscriber (“MoU”) increased by 25.7% to 95.9 minutes (76.3 minutes)
- Turkcell’s Ukrainian subsidiary, Astelit successfully increased its revenue by 71.4% to US$439 million (US$256 million) and recorded a positive full year EBITDA for the first time.
For more information, please visit http://www.turkcell.com.tr
