SAO PAULO (Reuters) – Brazilian telecommunications company Telefónica Brasil (NYSE:) posted a net profit on Tuesday that was below analysts’ expectations, even as it rose 7.3% in the first quarter from a year earlier.
The company, controlled by Spain’s Telefónica (NYSE:), posted a net profit of 896 million reals ($176.5 million) for the quarter ended in March, while analysts polled by LSEG expected a real net profit of 1.03 billion reals .
Net operating revenues amounted to 13.5 billion reais, up 6.5%, while the core mobile services business grew 9.3%.
Telefónica Brasil attributed the performance of its mobile unit to an 11.4% increase in post-paid revenue, as the company was able to expand its customer base and increase its prices in the segment, while maintaining record low customer churn.
Earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization (EBITDA) rose 6.8% to 5.28 billion reais in the quarter, slightly below analyst expectations of 5.35 billion reais.
The EBITDA margin increased by 0.1 percentage point year-on-year to 39%.
($1 = 5.0759 reais)
