New Telefonica’s commercial brand in Spain O2 will aim to cover all segments of the low and medium cost market where the entry of Masmovil has caused competition. Masmovil gained 201,000 new lines in April, while Telefonica gained 1,200 new connections, Orange lost 1,900 lines and Vodafone 4,500.
Telefonica posted a 7.4% rise in net profit in the first quarter of 2018 to 837 million euros from a year earlier. The figure beat FactSet’s analysts consensus for net profit of 800 million euros. But revenues fell 7.2% to 12.19 billion euros, as currency pressures offset improvements in the group’s home market.
Telefonica is starting the process of preparing a stock market listing for a stake in its currently fully-owned Argentine subsidiary. In the upcoming AGM on April 16, it’s expected that authorisation will be sought from shareholders to go ahead with the share placement.
In three months, Barclays has cut its price target for Telefónica on four occasions, from 9,8 euros/share in December to 9 euros/share last time round, on March 19. That’s almost 10% lower. How can a company’s value change so much in such a short space of time?
The UK Court of Appeal has dismissed a demand from Three which blocked the new frequencies auction (planned for Autumn 2017), in turn blocking Telefonica’s share sale of O2. This is positive news for Telefónica as it means that it eliminates a practical hurdle for the company to be able to carry out the O2 share sale in the UK, raising funds to cut its debt.
While the telecoms sector (mainly represented by Telefónica) is very attractive for investors, “looming pressure on returns” is clouding investor interest in the utilities.
Telefonica has informed the Stock Market Regulator (CNMV) that it has reached an agreement with the Colombian government to hike capital for a total of €1.840 billion at its affiliate operating in the country, which is one of the main ones in the group. The reason for the capital increase is the debt the parent company has with the company which manages the pension funds.
Telefónica is continuing with its plans for cutting group debt – estimated at 50 billion euros – by divesting stakes in some of its subsidiaries and ruling out any major new acquisitions. On the one hand, the company is still preparing to list a minority stake in its UK mobile subsidiary O2 towards year-end, on the other they are considering to sell Telefonica Argentina.
Telefonica’s Movistar has informed its clients that from June 15 it will put an end to the roaming surcharges for all its tariffs across Europe. This means that all clients with a contract, or prepaid or Fusion will have the same tariffs as they do in Spain when they travel to the EU, Iceland, Norway or Liechtenstein.
The CNMV and the government have been trying for years to get the big companies and Spanish banks to issue debt in Spain. But despite some reforms having been made, Spanish companies continue to head for Europe and even farther afield to ask investors for money.