Telefónica President, José María Álvarez-Pallete, indicated this morning in a meeting with the media that, with respect to the 0.30 euro per share dividend announced today for 2023, “all the trends we see now are that

Telefónica chairman, José María Álvarez-Pallete, indicated this morning in a meeting with the media that, with respect to the 0.30 euro per share dividend announced today for 2023, “all the trends we see now are that The cash advance allows them to cover a dividend of just over 0.30 euros”, as there are currently no significant acquisitions that would exhaust capital. Although Pallete has also reaffirmed its commitment to maintaining a “robust” investment grade, he indicated that By the end of the year , the company will update its dividend policy, “although the main goal is to demonstrate that these dividends are well covered, sustainable and therefore, if there is a risk of something, it is upwards.”

Acquisition and divestment

Villa Angel. The CEO of Telefónica, has opened up the possibility of the company’s operations in the wholesale segment of fiber optic operators (fibercos), in the countries where it operates. He has pointed out that in countries where he has a presence with this type of wholesale operator such as Spain, Brazil, UK, Germany, Chile or Colombia, there are also other, similar, smaller operators who may start to experience difficulties because they do not have as strong a clientele as the carrier. Telefónica and because of the increase in finance costs, explained that the company is concerned about the possibility of acquiring some of these companies, as has been done recently in Chile. Similarly, the group is in the process of creating a new Fiberco in Peru, similar to those it created in Chile and Colombia where it sold 60% of its equity to KKR and also that the process to create a similar company in Argentina has already started. .

In line with that, he also explained that the operator has a very valuable asset in the UK, tower subsidiary CTIL, which is 50% owned by subsidiary VMO2 and Vantage, tower subsidiary Vodafone. CTIL is one of the few major assets – 17,000 towers in the UK – that are still unsold and has made it clear that all options are open, including a 50% sale to Vantage, which British media say has expressed interest.