Brazilian owned telecoms group Oi SA, formed through the restructuring of Telemar Participacoes’ former operating divisions Brasil Telecom, Tele Norte Leste Participacoes, Coari Participacoes and Telemar Norte Leste, said net profits for the three months to 31 December 2012 fell 64% to BRL113 million (USD57.3 million), compared to earnings of BRL315 million in Q4 2011. However, in its filing the carrier noted that direct year-on-year comparisons were distorted by its corporate restructuring exercise following the acquisition of Brasil Telecom (BrT) and Telemar Norte Leste (TNL), completed this year. For the full year, Oi SA recorded net profits of BRL1.8 billion, before the amortisation of BrT, but said that its figures are still being reviewed for ratification by the Brazilian securities commission Comissão de Valores Mobiliários (CVM).
In the last three months of 2012, the group booked net revenues of BRL7.3 billion, up 6.2% year-on-year, while full-year sales edged up marginally by 0.8% to BRL28.1 billion. Fourth-quarter EBITDA stood at BRL2.40 billion, up from BRL1.84 billion a year earlier, while for the year as a whole EBITDA of BRL8.8 billion was broadly unchanged from FY2011. CAPEX for last year totalled BRL6.5 billion Oi SA said, up from BRL4.9 billion in FY2011, of which almost three-quarters was set aside for ‘capacity and capillarity’ network improvements. Broken down, in 2012 the operator spent BRL4.7 billion on investment in networks, BRL336 million on IT services, BRL400 million on 4G/LTE licences and BRL1 billion on ‘other’ investments. In fiscal 2013, Oi SA intends to invest around BRL6 billion in its infrastructure and services, and is forecasting full-year EBITDA of between BRL9-BRL9.8 billion. It is also aiming to increase net revenues by between 1.8% and 5.5% this year.