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Telefonica to accelerate investment in 2014
2014-02-27 08:31:00| Telecompaper Headlines
(Telecompaper) Telefonica announced plans to boost investment in 2014 in order to take advantage of demand for faster data services and accelerate its sales growth. The company forecast capital expenditure of 15.5-16 percent of revenues this year, versus 14.5 percent in 2013. Revenues are expected to show "positive growth", after a 0.7 percent organic increase last year. The EBITDA margin will remain under pressure, after dropping 1.4 percent points in 2012 and 0.2 points last year. Telefonica said the margin could stabilise this year or fall by as much as 1 point this year if the company decides to spend on commercial opportunities. The Spanish operator also reiterated plans to maintain its dividend at EUR 0.75 per share this year, with EUR 0.35 per share in stock in the fourth quarter of this year and another EUR 0.40 in cash by mid-2015. It met its net debt target for 2013 with a reduction of EUR 5.9 billion to a total EUR 45.4 billion at end-2013, and said it expects this to drop to under EUR 43 billion by the end of 2014. For 2013, the company reported revenues down 8.5 percent to EUR 57.1 billion, and OIBDA fell 10.1 percent to EUR 19.1 billion. Net profit was up 16.9 percent to EUR 4.6 billion, including a EUR 350 million writedown of the stake in Telecom Italia.
Tags: investment
accelerate
telefonica
Category:Telecommunications