America Movil profit almost halves on Mexico mobile competition
(Adds detail on results)
MEXICO CITY, July 28 (Reuters) - Mexican telecoms company America Movil on Thursday reported a 45 percent drop in second-quarter profit compared with the year earlier period, missing expectations as it faced greater mobile competition in its home market and economic woes in Brazil.
The company, which is controlled by the family of billionaire Carlos Slim, said net profit in the April-June period was 7.7 billion pesos ($422 million).
The results missed analyst expectations for a profit of 10.027 billion pesos in a Reuters poll.
In Mexico, Slim's company controls 70 percent of the mobile market and faces tougher antitrust rules under a sweeping sector reform. Revenues there fell 4.3 percent in the quarter, while earnings before interest and tax (EBIT) fell by almost a third.
The company, which competes with Telefonica SA and AT&T Inc, said the Mexican mobile market has become very competitive and phone plans have become more aggressive in the pre-paid segment. Its profit margin there has fallen every quarter since the new rules were set in 2014.
In November, Mexico's telecoms regulator is expected to publish a review of the rules put in place against the company. It could tweak the rules as a result.
America Movil has said it is confident that Mexican regulators will finally allow it to provide pay-TV at home.
In Brazil, its second-largest market and which is currently in the midst of an economic recession, EBIT more than halved on higher maintenance costs and rising past-due accounts.
Revenue at the group level rose 6 percent to 233.383 billion pesos, beating expectations, partly reflecting a recovery in the Brazilian real and the Colombian peso against Mexico's peso.
Earlier on Thursday, the company announced it would cut its stake in Telekom Austria to just over 50 percent, a decline of 7.8 percentage points.
($1 = 18.2575 pesos) (Reporting by Christine Murray and Noe Torres; Editing by Leslie Adler)
