Madrid (AFP) – Spanish telecoms giant Telefonica reported Thursday a return to profit and a reduction of its debt in the year to September, thanks notably to its core markets in Spain and Brazil. The group posted earnings of 464 million euros ($515 million) for the first nine months of the year, rebounding from steep losses of more than one billion euros in the period last year. Revenue to September rose 2.8 percent to 24.8 billion euros.
Alongside Britain and Germany, Spain and Brazil are Telefonica’s core markets after a strategic shift that saw it divest from Latin America in a bid to boost profitability. The company also announced Thursday that it had cut its debt by 10.8 percent to 25.1 billion euros by the end of September, its largest reduction since 2021.
In 2025, Telefonica’s losses ballooned to 4.32 billion euros, mainly due to restructuring costs as it announced a plan to cut around 5,000 jobs and pull out of fiercely competitive Latin American markets. Telefonica chairman Marc Murtra said the “solid results” showed that the transformation plan “is proving its effectiveness and allows us to be more ambitious.”
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© 2024 AFP
