Spanish telecom group Telefonica had a bittersweet financial return as it ended in 2023. According to its latest report for the fourth quarter of 2023, the European telecom giant said that it bore a 2.15 billion euro and blamed it on the economic crisis in Britain and higher interest rates. The conglomerate though maintained that it did meet the core profit and revenue goals.
On Thursday the company CEO Joese Maria Alvarez-Pallete said that the group saw “good momentum across its business units (abroad ventures)” and achieved growth in Spain. He also pointed to the steady growth in Brazil and Germany.
Telefonica has maintained that despite bearing the hefty losses, it succeeded in getting core financial targets in 2024. It said that the group is still able to maintain an annual dividend of 0.30 euros per share. Also read: Telefonica plans to cut 5,100 jobs in Spain by 2026
In response to the net losses, Javier Cabrera, stock market analyst, at XTB said to investors that they won’t imply cash outflow.
The group saw its operating income down by half from Q4, 2022 to 1.8 billion euros although revenues were marked a steady 1015 billion euros.
The group saw its income down from the previous year by 11% to 11.39 billion euros while revenues slightly surged to 40.65 billion euros from 39.99 in FY 2022 which it says was the target for the year. For 2024, the company expects its revenue to increase by 1% to 2%.
For its financial plummet, the group attributed it to the slow economy in Great Britain and higher interest rates.