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Strategies & Market Trends : Telebras (TBH) & Brazil -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: wl9839 who wrote (15297)	5/14/1999 1:18:00 PM
From: wl9839	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 22640

Brazil's Telesp Participacoes 1Q Net BRR99.8M Vs 155M Telesp Participacoes SA Sao Paulo, Brazil Three months ending March 31: Figures in reals 1999 1998 Net Operating Revenues 1.24 Bln 1.04 Bln Net profit 99.8 Mln 155.0 Mln EBITDA (a) 721 (65.2%) 570 (58.6%) ($1=BRR1.658) a) Earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortization. SAO PAULO (Dow Jones)--Brazil's Telesp Participacoes SA (TSP) recorded a net profit of 99.8 million reals ($1=BRR1.651) in the first quarter ended March 31, compared with profits of BRR155 million in the same period last year, the unit of Spain's Telefonica SA (TEF) said in a press release Friday. Telesp attributed its lower results to foreign exchange losses and a change in accounting of equipment depreciation. Brazil let the real float freely in mid January, resulting in a depreciation of the currency that at its worst in early March, had weakened 45% against the dollar. Telesp - like other Brazilian telecommunications companies - switched from depreciating equipment at 7%-10% to a yearly 12.5% rate. The company said that although $294 million, or 64% of its debt contracted in foreign currency was hedged at the time of the shift in forex policy, the remaining un-hedged portion caused it to incur losses of BRR172 million. Telefonica said that the expansion in installed lines, which jumped to 6.8 million from 5.7 million at the end of the same quarter of 1998, contributed to an operating income increase of 19.1% to BRR1.24 billion. In the first three months, the company installed 431,000 lines in Sao Paulo state. Although at midsession Friday analysts were still digesting the results, shares traded on the Sao Paulo Stock Exchange reacted positively. At 1500 GMT, Telesp Participacoes ordinary shares were up 2.4% at BRR128 per thousand shares, compared with a rise of 0.79% before the earnings release. Preferred stock was down 2.7% at BRR216, compared with a fall of 2.9% before the results were released. Telesp Participacoes controls two fixed wireline operators in the state of Sao Paulo. The company was spun off former telecommunications monopoly Telecomunicacoes Brasileiras SA (TBR) during its privatization in July 1998. -Margarita Palatnik; 5511-813-1988; mpalatnik@ap.org