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Millicom Q4 profits fall on investment, acquisition costs
2013-02-12 09:23:00| Telecompaper Headlines
(Telecompaper) Africa and Latin America mobile operator Millicom reported a drop in fourth-quarter net profit to USD 155 million from USD 188 million a year earlier, hurt by costs for acquisitions and investments. EBITDA declined to USD 528 million from USD 536 million, while revenues still rose to USD 1.27 billion from USD 1.18 billion a year ago, helped by the acquisition of Cablevision in Paraguay. Revenues were up 6.4 percent year-on-year excluding currency effects and Cablevision. Over the full year, capex rose to USD 922 million from USD 825 million in 2011, while operating free cash flow dipped to USD 1.13 billion from USD 1.22 billion. The EBITDA margin declined by 2.9 percentage points to 43.2 percent in 2012, excluding the Online activities, and met the company's guidance. Millicom, which operates under the name Tigo, said it expects a smaller drop in the margin this year, and the figure should remain over 40 percent, while capex should peak at around 20 percent of sales. Both forecasts exclude the online division. The company said it's increasing its focus on costs and capex avoidance to adjust to the slowing growth in voice revenues. In 2013, the focus will be on growing revenues from mobile data, m-payment services, the cable operations and the online activities with Rocket Internet.
Tags: fall
costs
investment
acquisition
Category:Telecommunications