Telefónica is confident of recovering ground in the summer after results punished by the market
Telefónica expects to accelerate its income in Spain as the year progresses, as indicated this Thursday after presenting results until March to which the market has responded with a 4.54% drop in the stock market.
The operator has billed 10,045 million in the first three months of the year, 6.7% more, with growth in all its key geographies, but its profit has fallen by 57.9% to 298 million euros due to the absence of extraordinary and lower capital gains, mainly.
In Spain, its income has increased by 0.3%, to a total of 3,088 million euros in the first results that reflect the impact of the price increase in January.
This has not prevented the company from signing the best quarter in commercial terms since September 2020, according to the company's CEO, Ángel Vilá, in a conference with analysts.
The rise in prices has translated into an increase in the average monthly payment per customer (ARPU) of 1.7% to 92.6 euros. The manager has predicted that the firm will accelerate in the coming months thanks to the reflection of the impact of the new rates, the growth of the business for companies and an increase in the contribution of European funds.
This will make it possible to stabilize the operating result before amortizations (Oibda), one of the main measures of profitability for the 'telecos', after it has fallen by 1.7% in the first quarter.
In favor of the company play a more “rational” market in the high segment and lower energy costs, according to Vilá. Against, the commercial aggressiveness in the 'low cost' and lower wholesale income from television by not having all the rights to football.
Likewise, Telefónica is confident that the liberalization of the television market will give it greater flexibility to define its offer, after losing 49,000 users this quarter, influenced in this segment by the greater weight of O2 in the company's client portfolio.
At group level, the company has reduced its debt by 3.5%, while its subsidiary Telefónica Tech continues to grow at double digits, with a business increase of 43.5%.