Telefónica’s net income increased by 10.6%, reaching 926 million euros in the first quarter of the year

Telefónica today presented its financial results for the first quarter of 2019, showing an improvement in its growth trend, both in terms of revenue, net income and earnings per share. In addition, free cash flow has multiplied by 2.6 times compared to the first quarter of 2018, which allows accelerating the reduction of debt (-693M € in the quarter, around € -1.7bn additionally, including events after 31 March).

Financial Highlights:

• Revenues accelerated their growth and totalled 11,979M€, an organic increase of +3.8% (-1.7% vs 1Q18). All regions show organic growth.

• OIBDA reached 4,264M€ (+10.3% vs 1Q18; +1% organic). OIBDA margin stood at 35.6% and increases 3.9 p.p. vs March 2018 (-0.9 p.p. organic).

• Telefónica tripled y-o-y cash generation in the first quarter, up to 1,408M€.

• Net debt decreased for the 8th consecutive quarter up to 40.377M € ex leases. Including post-closing events debt stood at around 38.7bn€.

• Telefónica reiterates its guidance and dividend announced for 2019. Net income per share grows 33.8% in the quarter (€ 0.16).

• The company confirms its leadership in fiber, with a 63% penetration and close to 52 million premises passed with its own FTTx/Cable network.

José María Álvarez-Pallete, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer: "We have started the year by extending our leadership in fibre and 4G deployment, testing new 5G capabilities and making progress in the UNICA virtualisation programme, allowing us to continue gaining customer relevance through better experience and higher average lifetime.

"The first quarter results showed a significant improvement in revenue growth trends and double-digit growth in net income and earnings per share. Strong cash generation, which was three times higher than the figure reported in the first quarter of the previous year, allowed for an acceleration in debt reduction, for the 8th consecutive quarter, further strengthening our balance sheet.

"As a result, we reiterate the dividend and guidance announced for 2019”.

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