Telefonica Group has reported revenues of EUR13.1 billion (USD14.3 billion) for the three months ended 31 March 2017, up 5.0% on an annualised basis. First quarter growth was spurred by the company’s Latin American subsidiaries; Telefonica Brasil saw its top-line surge 30.2% year-on-year, to reach EUR3.2 billion, while Telefonica Hispanomerica (comprising units in Mexico, Central and South America) reported sales of EUR3.3 billion, up 7.6% y-o-y. Telefonica Espana recorded a 2.6% drop in its first quarter sales, to EUR3.1 billion, while Telefonica Deutschland and Telefonica UK generated sales of EUR1.8 billion (-4.7%) and EUR1.6 billion (-8.6%), respectively. Group OIBDA for the first quarter increased 4.8% to EUR4.0 billion, while operating income for 1Q17 edged up 3.6%, to EUR1.570 billion. Net income attributable to equity holders of the parent company was reported at EUR779 million, up 42.2% on an annualised basis.
Jose Maria Alvarez-Pallete, executive chairman at Telefonica, commented: ‘First quarter results reflected a further step forward in our business model, which is focused on the pursuit of sustainable growth. The differential quality of our asset portfolio enables us to offer differential services, which translated into improvements in our results; in particular: i) the growth in main financial metrics, including the positive impact of foreign exchange rates in the quarter; ii) the savings obtained from synergy capture and process simplification; and iii) the strengthening of our balance sheet and the strong free cash flow growth, 9x higher vs. January-March 2016.’