Daniel Hajj
Analyst · Bank of America. Your line is now open
Thanks, Daniela. Welcome, everyone. Carlos is going to make a summary of the fourth quarter results.
Carlos García Moreno: Thank you, Daniel. Good morning, everyone. With the U.S. long-term interest rates stabilizing in the fourth quarter, after a sharp decline that began in February and with the stock market reaching all-time highs on the back of sustained economic momentum and the FED reduction in interest rates, the year ended on an improving note in the U.S. economic front. In this context, coupled with weak, but improving levels of economic activity in Latin America’s larger countries, the currencies in the region generally strengthened or were stable throughout the quarter with another exception of the Chilean peso that depreciated as a result of the social unrest in last November. We added 1.9 million mobile postpaid subscribers with Brazil leading the way with 1.2 million, followed by Mexico with 242,000 and Colombia. On the fixed-line platform, we gained 181,000 broadband accesses, roughly one third of which came from Central America, with Argentina contributing 37,000 and Peru 30,000. This accomplished our goal of going on the fixed-line side, and they are making good inroads. Mobile postpaid and fixed-broadband continued to be the main drivers of access growth at 8.1% and 4.2%, respectively, with mobile overtaking fixed-broadband for the first time in several quarters. Mobile prepaid and PayTV accesses declined 2.3% and 2.8%, respectively, while fixed post accesses were down 2.2% from a year before. Our fourth quarter revenues totaled MXN263 billion, including other revenues, MXN2.6 billion derived from the restructuring of certain amounts owed under equipment lease agreements in Mexico. In Mexican peso terms, our revenues were flat year-on-year, reflecting the depreciation of our currency, the Mexican peso, that appreciated 11% against the Brazilian real, 10% versus the Colombian peso, 14% versus the Chilean peso, 6% versus the euro and 3% versus the dollar. At constant exchange rates, service revenues actually accelerated to a pace of 3.2% year-on-year from 2.5% the prior quarter, and excluding Argentina in these numbers because of the hyperinflationary accounting that they have, which is different from everybody else, with continued strong performance in the mobile platform and improving trends on the fixed one. Three of our top four operations posted positive revenue growth on both fixed and mobile platforms. A year ago, only one did. On the IFRS 16, our EBITDA came in at 11 – at MXN81.7 billion in the fourth quarter, corresponding to 31.1% EBITDA margin. At constant exchange rates, our organic EBITDA was up to 7.6%, adjusting for extraordinary items in Mexico, also in Brazil, reflecting greater operating leverage. Mobile service revenues kept picking up with their annual rate of growth hitting 5.7% from 4.6% in the third quarter, whereas our fixed revenue were practically flat year-on-year, marking their best showing in 2019 as fixed-broadband growth roughly made up for revenue losses in voice and PayTV. On the mobile platform, our Brazilian operations posted a 15.6% increase, aided by continued market share gains in the postpaid segment. In fact, mobile postpaid revenues soared 21%. In the Dominican Republic, mobile service revenues were up 8.9%; in Colombia, 8.5%; in Mexico, 7.6% and in our European operations 5.7%. Save for Mexico, all the countries mentioned before posted their best performances in more than a year, if not, ever. As for fixed-service revenue growth, it reached nearly 14% in Paraguay, 8.5% in Colombia, 7.8% in Ecuador, and 4% in Peru. Postpaid mobile services became our most dynamic business segment, with growth accelerating to nearly 8% from 5.8% the prior quarter, overtaking fixed broadband services, at 7.1%. Mobile prepaid services and corporate networks followed with revenue growth of 3.8% and 1.3%, respectively. We observed double-digit EBITDA growth in several countries, Peru, 22%; Central America 17% nearly 18%; the U.S. 16%, Colombia, 14.5%, and Mexico organic, 5.9% with Brazil expanding nearly 5% after the above-mentioned adjustment. The EBITDA margins increased approximately one percentage point in each of Mexico, Telekom Austria, Argentina, the U.S. and Colombia, with Central America and Peru presenting margin increases of four to five percentage points. In Mexico, Brazil and Colombia, we continue to observe very strong mobile service revenue growth and somewhat improving trends on the fixed line segment, with good advances in EBITDA in spite of strong seasonality typically in the last quarter. We obtained a MXN44.6 billion operating profit that, after factoring in MXN8 billion in comprehensive financing costs, helped bring about a MXN21 billion net profit in the period, a 63.4% increase from the year-earlier quarter. Our net profit was equivalent to MXN0.32 per share or $0.33 per ADR. Including capitalized obligations, our net debt ended the year at MXN677 billion which is MXN7.2 billion lower than at the end of 2018. Under the prior accounting methodology, IAS17, which excludes capitalized obligation from the debt and substracts the lease payments from our EBITDA, our net debt to EBITDA ratio stood at 1.96 times. In cash flow terms, we increased our net debt by MXN16 billion in 2019. Shareholder distributions for the year totaled MXN22.9 billion, mostly by way of dividends, while acquisitions came in at MXN25 billion, principally having to do with Nextel Brazil. In addition, we reduced pension obligations by MXN20 billion, mainly in Telmex. With that, I would like to give the floor back to Daniel, and I think Daniel will begin the Q&A session. Thank you very much.