TEF Telefonica SA

   By Mauro Orru 
 

Telefonica SA swung to a net loss in the fourth quarter, citing the negative effects of exceptional items.

The Spanish telecommunication company on Thursday posted a net loss of 1.20 billion euros ($1.36 billion) compared with profit of EUR911 million in the fourth quarter of 2020.

The company said exceptional items had delivered a EUR1.5 billion hit to profits. Underlying profit came in at EUR459 million.

Revenue slipped to EUR9.67 billion from EUR10.91 billion.

Telefonica's operating income before depreciation and amortization, or Oibda, fell to EUR1.36 billion from EUR3.75 billion, with its corresponding margin down to 14.1% from 34.4%.

Still, Telefonica said it would pay a second tranche of EUR0.15 a share of its 2021 dividend in June 2022. It also said it would distribute a dividend for 2022 of EUR0.30 a share in cash, to be paid in December 2022 and June 2023.

For 2022, Telefonica expects low-single-digit growth in revenue, and low single digit growth in Oibda.

Write to Mauro Orru at mauro.orru@wsj.com; @MauroOrru94

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

February 24, 2022 02:16 ET (07:16 GMT)

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