Telefonica continued the trend set by its immediate European rivals by recording a profit in 2011, but one that is well down on its 2010 income.
The Spanish-headquartered operator generated profit of €5.4 billion in 2011, compared to €10.1 billion in 2010, despite growing revenues 3.5% year-on-year. Latin America continued to be the firm’s sales powerhouse, with revenues growth of 13.5% offsetting a 7.6% fall in its domestic business and a marginal 1.3% decline in its broader European operations.
Despite the lower net income, executive chairman César Alierta noted the annual results were inline with its forecasts, and included infrastructure investment of €10.2 billion. He claimed success in growing the firm’s overall subscriber base – up to 306 million – and says business diversification schemes are beginning to pay off.
“We face 2012 from a position of strength, thanks to the advances we have made in the last decade to reinforce our diversification, not only geographical, but also by businesses,” he states.
Telefonica’s European rivals France Telecom and Deutsche Telekom reported similar trends in their annual results, with both remaining in the black despite net profit falling by around €1 billion through 2011.