News
Spanish telco confirms 2016 guidance, including 0.75-per-share dividend.
Telefonica on Thursday reported organic growth in both revenues and earnings in the first half of 2016, but its reported figures were hit hard by currency effects in Latin America.
The Spanish telecoms group generated turnover of €25.24 billion in the January-June period, down 7.1% on the first half of last year, but up 1.3% on an organic basis.
Its home market contributed €6.33 billion to the top line, an increase of 5.4% year-on-year but flat organically.
Its Brazilian business posted revenue of €5.09 billion, down 11.3%, while its wider Latin American operations recorded a 15.7% decline to €6.02 billion; however, the two units witnessed organic growth of 0.8% and 7.5% respectively.
At group level OIBDA fell by 6.4% to €7.76 billion, but grew by 3.1% organically. Telefonica’s European operations all recorded organic OIBDA growth, but their growth rates were outstripped by Telefonica Brasil, which posted a 7% increase.
Telefonica’s numbers for the second quarter alone followed a similar pattern.
Net profit in the first half fell by 42.1% to €1.24 billion, while Telefonica’s Q2 bottom line slipped by 54.5% to €693 million.
Free cash flow in the first half of the year fell by €194 million on the same period in 2015 to €815 million.
"These results and the expected improvement of free cash flow generation in the second half of the year, allow us to
confirm 2016 guidance, including the dividend (€0.75 per share) and the leverage ratio in the mid-term," said Telefonica’s executive chairman José María Álvarez-Pallete.
