Portugal’s NOS posts lower 2023 profit, revenue rises

LISBON, March 5 (Reuters) – Portuguese telecommunications company NOS posted on Tuesday a 19.4% drop in 2023 net profit to 181 million euros ($197 million) after a one-off gain from a sale of towers the previous year, while revenue rose.

The company, whose businesses include cable television and cinemas, said consolidated revenue grew 5% to 1.6 billion euros, of which 1.53 billion came from its telecom business. Sales at its cinemas and movie distribution business jumped 11%, as the industry recovered “almost back to pre-pandemic levels”.

Chief Executive Officer Miguel Almeida said the results “are confirmation of the bold strategic choices” made in the past few years, such as the decision to accelerate the deployment of 5G technology that now covers over 94% of the population.

Consolidated earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) rose by 10% to 717 million euros, while its EBITDA margin – a key measure of profitability -improved 2.1 percentage points to 44.9%, the company said.

NOS added 183,000 mobile telecoms customers to the prior year level to total about 5.9 million in 2023, and its revenue generating units – either individuals or businesses – rose by 2.1% to 11 million.

($1 = 0.9206 euros) (Reporting by Patricia Vicente Rua; Editing by Andrei Khalip and Emelia Sithole-Matarise)

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