Telefonica Raises Fiscal Year Guidance After 2Q Net Profit Rose

By Dominic Chopping

Telefonica SA on Thursday raised its full-year guidance after a rise in second quarter net profit on the back of some exceptional gains.

The Spanish telecommunication company said second-quarter net profit climbed to 7.74 billion euros ($9.15 billion) from EUR425 million a year earlier, after booking around EUR7.4 billion of gains from divestments and a joint venture.

Quarterly revenue slipped to EUR9.96 billion from EUR10.34 billion, mainly due to foreign exchange trends, it said.

Analysts polled by FactSet had seen net profit at EUR5.7 billion on sales of EUR9.6 billion.

Telefonica's underlying operating income before depreciation and amortization, or Oibda, fell to EUR3.27 billion from EUR3.43 billion, with its corresponding margin flat on the year at 33.1%, the company said.

The company said its first-half performance met or slightly surpassed financial targets for 2021 and due to the positive outlook for the second-half in all of its core geographies, allows it to upgrade 2021 financial targets.

Telefonica had expected a stabilization of revenue and Oibda this year, but said Thursday it now expects to see stable to slight growth in organic year-on-year revenue and Oibda.

Write to Dominic Chopping at [e-mail]

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

07-29-21 0220ET