America Movil reported flat revenues and EBITDA in the fourth quarter, as customer growth was offset by negative currency effects, according Telecompaper. Revenues fell 0.7 percent to MXN 262 billion, including a 1.7 percent fall in service revenue, and EBITDA was up 0.1 percent to MXN 70.6 billion.
Excluding the forex effects, the company said revenues rose 3.0 percent, similar to the previous quarter, thanks to service-revenue growth in Colombia, the US and Argentina. Its two largest markets, Brazil and Mexico saw a small slowdown in revenues.
EBITDA was up 6.8 percent excluding currency effects, helped by the release of provisions in Brazil. Excluding these and some new charges in Central America, adjusted EBITDA growth slowed slightly to 6.1 percent, which America Movil blamed on increased commercial activity in markets such as Brazil, Mexico, Colombia and the US.
EBIT jumped 25.6 percent to MXN 35.9 billion thanks to lower depreciation, and the net result improved to a profit of MXN 9.5 billion from a loss of MXN 10.6 billion a year ago after fewer forex losses and a drop in financing costs. Net debt stood at MXN 568.2 billion at year-end, down by MXN 46.2 billion from a year earlier and equal to 1.88 times annual EBITDA. Capex reached MXN 152 billion over the year.
Mobile base down 1.3%
America Movil ended the year with 275.8 million mobile customers, down 1.3 percent from a year earlier due to losses mainly in Brazil and Central America. It had 75.7 million postpaid mobile clients, up 7.2 percent year-on-year and by 1.5 million in Q4, while the prepaid base declined by 4.0 percent over the year to just over 200 million.
The company said quarterly net additions included 1.2 million in Brazil and almost 200,000 in Mexico. Prepaid net subscriber gains accelerated sharply in Mexico, Colombia, the Argentinean block and the US from the prior quarter, with 547,000 in Mexico, 398,000 thousand in Colombia, 90,000 in the Argentinean block and 66,000 in the US (excluding Safelink). This was offset by a clean-up of the customer base in Brazil and Central America, leading to the net loss of 5.1 million prepaid subs in the quarter.
Fixed RGUs increased 1.5 percent over the year to 84.1 million, driven by broadband services as the company connected 590,000 new subscribers. The broadband base rose 5.6 percent year-on-year.
