MEXICO CITY, Feb 11 (Reuters) - Mexican
telecommunications giant America Movil on Tuesday
reported a 48% fall in its fourth-quarter net profit, well below
analysts' expectations, with the company citing foreign-exchange
losses even as its revenues rose.
Profit for the company, controlled by the family of Mexican
billionaire Carlos Slim, landed at 9.48 billion pesos ($453
million) - well below the average estimate of analysts polled by
LSEG, who had forecast more than double the figure in
dollar-denominated net earnings, at $1.15 billion.
Revenues, meanwhile, came in at 236.94 billion pesos
($11.35 billion) for the period, up 18% year-on-year, but just
slightly below an LSEG forecast of $11.41 billion.
America Movil noted that its quarterly revenue growth
was largely due to a new accounting methodology in its Argentina
operations, which ended last year with 118% inflation.
Excluding Argentina, the firm said, revenues would have
still risen 10% in Mexican peso terms, thanks in part to the
consolidation of its operations in Chile.
($1 = 20.8829 Mexican pesos at end-December)