Czech Telefonica Says Slovak Unit To Be Profitable
July 27 2011 - 1:36PM
Dow Jones News
Telefonica Czech Republic AS (BAATELEC.PR), a unit of Spain's
Telefonica SA (TEF), expects continued sales growth at its Slovak
subsidiary to generate a net profit in the second half of the year,
slowing the decline in group net profit that was seen in the first
half, the company's chief executive said Wednesday.
The Slovak mobile subsidiary's first-half sales growth accounted
for almost 100% of growth of that market and generated an operating
profit of roughly EUR10 million after posting a loss a year
earlier, Luis Antonio Malvido said.
"With our lean operations, growth will be translated into
[operating income] and it'll be difficult for our competitors to
catch up. It'll show up in profits in the second half," Malvido
said.
The company is also focusing on more affluent customers and in
July launched sales of 3G mobile services to small enterprises, and
the steps are already generating a positive reaction, he said.
Telefonica Czech said the recently launched VDSL high-speed
Internet service in the Czech Republic will likely support the data
segment and help to narrow sales declines.
Earlier Wednesday Telefonica Czech said its first-half net
profit fell 17% annually to 3.61 billion koruna ($215 million).
-By Sean Carney, Dow Jones Newswires; +420 222 315 290;
sean.carney@dowjones.com
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