Playing in Spain

22 February 2018 By Liam Proud Follow @liamwardproud

The Spanish group’s domestic revenue is stabilising after a rough 2017, while capital spending has peaked. But its premium to peers like Orange and Deutsche Telekom looks conspicuous given likely slow growth this year. And the price war in Spain may not be over.

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Telefonica on Feb. 22 said it generated 52 billion euros of revenue in 2017, up 3.4 percent from 2016 after stripping out the effects of currency movements, acquisitions and disposals.

The Spanish telecom group said it expects revenue to grow by 1 percent this year.

Operating income before depreciation and amortisation (OIBDA) was up 5.3 percent to 16.2 billion euros, or 31 percent of revenue.

Sales in Spain were flat in the final three months of 2017 compared with a year earlier, and down 1.2 percent over the full year to 12.7 billion euros.

Telefonica’s Spanish OIBDA margin was 39.1 percent in 2017, down 0.2 percentage points compared with 2016.

The group’s net debt was 44.2 billion euros at the end of December, down 9 percent from the end of 2016.

Telefonica’s shares were up 2.1 percent to 7.8 euros at 0840 GMT.

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