Telefónica Deutschland turned €1m profit into €2m loss by Q4 2021 – Market Watch

Company has extended Markus Haas’ term as CEO for another three years

German mobile operator Telefónica Deutschland (which operates under the O2 brand) is expected to post a net loss of €2 million according to a company-compiled consensus, seen by Market Watch. This contrasts with profit of €1 million that the company reported for the fourth quarter of 2020.

This is something of a surprise, given that in November, Telefónica Deutschland upgraded its guidance on the back of its Q3 2021 earnings report and claimed to be experiencing “historic highs” in customer loyalty and a strong performance from its mobile unit.

Revenue forecast

Figures for Q4 seens by Market Watch, predict revenue should come in at €2.06 billion, with mobile service revenue of €1.39 billion, according to consensus. Last year, the company posted revenue of €2.02 billion and mobile service revenue of €1.36 billion.

Events

Telefonica Deutschland is due to unveil targets for 2022. Investment bank UBS said it expects a solid outlook for the year given a growing subscriber base and an easing of travel restrictions.

The consensus in the City of London is that the telco is expecting service revenue growth of 2.6%, and earnings growth of 3.3%. On capital expenditure, the word on Threadneedle Street is that it will fall by 1.5% in 2022. 

The company declared a dividend of €0.18 per share for 2020, and investors will be on the lookout for any proposals for 2021.

Telefonica Deutschland said earlier this week that Markus Haas will remain CEO for another three years, after the supervisory board approved the extension of the contract to 31 December 2025.

Haas was appointed CEO in January 2017.