Spanish telephone giant ‘best in Europe’

18 June 2004

MADRID – Spain’s Telefonica Moviles is the world’s eighth-largest and Europe’s best-performing information technology company, according to a survey released Friday by the prestigious Business Week magazine.

“The Info Tech 100,” a special issue of Business Week magazine, includes financial data on the world’s top companies in fields such as telecommunications, internet, software, communication equipment, computers and peripherals, semiconductors and services.

The list takes into account financial indicators such as revenue, revenue growth, return on equity (ROE), total shareholder returns and year 2003 profits.

The report highlights Telefonica Moviles’ positive performance and its expansion into Latin America, which yielded 2003 consolidated earnings of EUR 10.08 billion  (USD 12.09 bn), or a 10.2 percent increase compared to 2002.

With a ROE of 37.2 percent, Telefonica Moviles’ earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and other factors jumped 19.5 percent to EUR 4.46 billion (USD 5.35 billion), while net profits came in at EUR 1.61 billion (USD 1.93 billion).

Telefonica Moviles paid EUR 796 million (USD 955 million) in dividends against 2003 results, equivalent to EUR 0.184 (USD 0.22) per share.

[Copyright EFE with Expatica]

Subject: Spanish news