By Rogerio Jelmayer
SAO PAULO--Telefonica Brasil SA (VIV, VIVT4.BR) on Tuesday
reported a decrease in net profit for the first quarter due to
operational-cost increases and depreciation.
The company posted a first-quarter net profit of 810.2 million
Brazilian reais ($403 million), down from BRL956.5 million in the
year-before period.
The results included that of Brazilian fixed-line telephone
company and mobile-phone operator Vivo SA. In 2011, Spain's
Telefonica SA (TEF, TEF.MC), which controls Vivo and Telefonica
Brasil, merged its fixed-line and mobile operations in Brazil into
a single company.
The company's operational costs increased 6.3% to BRL5.8 billion
in the first quarter. In the meantime, depreciation costs totaled
BRL960 million in the period, up from BRL880 million in the
year-before period.
Telefonica Brasil's net revenue rose at a lower pace than its
expenses. Its net revenue totaled BRL8.55 billion in the first
quarter, up 2.9% from BRL8.3 billion in the first quarter last
year.
The company's revenue from mobile-phone services increased 7% in
the period to BRL5.27 billion, while its revenue from
fixed-lined-phone services dropped 8.9% to BRL2.9 billion.
Earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization,
or Ebitda, decreased to BRL2.75 billion from BRL2.85 billion. The
company's Ebitda margin reduced to 32.1% from 34.2%.
The company had 90.86 million customers at the end of the first
quarter, down from 91.11 million at the end of the fourth quarter,
but up from 90 million customer in the prior-year period.
Telefonica Brasil is the local largest mobile phone company in
terms of market share, with a 28.8% share in the quarter.
Write to Rogerio Jelmayer at rogerio.jelmayer@dowjones.com
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