MADRID (Reuters) -Spanish telecom company Telefonica reported a first-quarter net loss of 1.3 billion euros ($1.45 billion) on Wednesday, in line with estimates, after writing down the value of assets it has sold in Peru and Argentina.
Analysts had forecast a loss of 1.32 billion euros, according to a consensus provided by the company. Shares were down 0.4% in early trading.
Excluding capital losses of 1.7 billion euros from its Latin American disposals — 1.2 billion euros in Argentina and 500 million euros in Peru — Telefonica reported an operating profit of 427 million euros.
First-quarter revenue fell 2.9% from the prior-year period to 9.22 billion euros, slightly surpassing analysts’ expectations of 9.1 billion euros.
“The group’s results should improve during the year, on the path to meet the 2025 targets,” CEO Emilio Gayo said in a statement.
The Spanish giant retained its annual outlook and dividend plans, and Gayo said the company will disclose a new business strategy in the second half of this year.
Telefonica has scaled back operations in several Spanish-speaking Latin American markets with lower returns than capital costs, opting to focus on Spain, Brazil, Britain, and Germany.
Last month, the company agreed to sell its Peruvian operations at a fraction of the price it paid 30 years ago and sold its Argentina unit for $1.25 billion.
It had already written off 314 million euros on the value of its Peruvian unit in the third quarter of 2024.
($1 = 0.8941 euros)
(Reporting by Inti Landauro; Editing by Jesús Aguado, Sherry Jacob-Phillips and Rachna Uppal)
