UPDATE: Brazil's Vivo Sees 2009 Earnings More Than Double
February 10 2010 - 6:58AM
Dow Jones News
Brazil's largest cellular operator, Vivo Participacoes (VIV
VIVO4.BR), on Wednesday reported that its 2009 profit more than
doubled amid rising revenue and cost controls.
The company, which is jointly controlled by Spain's Telefonica
(TEF TEF.MC) and Portugal Telecom SGPS SA (PT PTC.LB), posted a net
profit of 857.5 million Brazilian reals ($464 million), more than
double the BRL389.7 million seen in 2008.
Vivo's net revenue rose 3.4% to BRL16.36 billion from BRL15.82
billion in the year-ago period. Increased sales of data and
value-added products offset the decline in revenue from handset
sales as the company focused more on selling chips.
The company's client base expanded 15% from the previous year to
51.7 million.
The company's earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and
amortization, or Ebitda, were BRL5.2 billion, up from BRL4.8
billion in 2008. The Ebitda margin, a measure of profitability over
net revenue, was 31.9% in 2009, up from 30.8% a year earlier.
Vivo's total operational costs increased less than its revenue
in the period. The company's costs totaled BRL11.1 billion in 2009,
up 1.8% from 2008.
In the fourth-quarter, the company's net profit totaled BRL221.6
million, down slightly from BRL222.1 million seen in the fourth
quarter of 2008.
The company's attributed the slight reduction of its net profit
in the quarter, among other factors, to the increase of loss with
depreciation and amortization, which totaled BRL834 million in the
period, up 3.4% from the same quarter of 2008.
Vivo's fourth-quarter net revenue rose 1.2% to BRL4.32 billion
from BRL4.27 billion in the year-ago period.
The company's Ebitda was BRL1.41 billion, up from BRL1.39
billion in the fourth quarter of 2008.
The company said it will invest BRL2.49 billion in its
operations this year. By comparison, last year Vivo invested a
total of BRL2.37 billion in its operations.
-By Rogerio Jelmayer, Dow Jones Newswires; 5511-2847-4521;
rogerio.jelmayer@dowjones.com
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