Telefónica’s price It has just reached 4.5 eurosits highest level in three years. Just when the new executive president, Marc Murtra, turns his first hundred days at the helm of the Teleco.
Why is it important. From the appointment of Murtra in January, the revaluation of Telefónica exceeds 16%. A stock market resurrection that confirms market confidence in the strategic review designed by the former president of Indra to save a telecus whose value 57% had collapsed during Álvarez-Pallete’s mandate.
The Catalan engineer has achieved in three months what Telefónica had been trying for years: to recover the favor of investors. And he has done so by executing a very different vision than his predecessor.
The panoramic. Murtra has identified two existential problems for Telefónica: Latin American ruin and the ballast of being perceived as a traditional telecus in a technological world.
- In Latin America, the subsidiaries have weighed the results with millionaire losses: 1,327 million in Argentina, 872 million in Peru (which entered into the bankruptcy of creditors) and 437 million in Chile.
- The rhythm of divestment has accelerated brutally: Argentina sold for 1,190 million to the Clarín group, Colombia on sale to Millicom for 370 million, and Peru practically given away for 900,000 euros to Integra Tec.
The turning point. While leaving the continent that became a financial bleeding for the company – Brazil on the margin -, Murtra has positioned Telefónica as the protagonist in the European consolidation of the sector, raising the debate from the business to the geopolitical.
His Inaugural speech at the Mobile World Congress From Barcelona he went straight to the heart of Brussels: “It is time for large European telecommunications companies to consolidate and grow to create technological capacity.”
Between the lines. The strategy has two pillars:
- End the Latin American expansion (except Brazil, which is still profitable) and focus efforts on European markets with greater profitability and legal certainty.
- Transform Telefónica from a traditional telecus to a technological company, taking advantage of the fact that almost half of its business income (43%) They already come from non -traditional services.
With Emilio Gayo as CEO, the duo is creating a balance between operational execution (Gayo) and strategic vision (Murtra) that is working. It is no accident that Gayo has achieved Telefónica España growing in income, Ebitda and customers For the first time since 2018.
And now what. Analysts expect Telefónica to reduce their investments in fiber infrastructure to focus more on technological aspects, freeing Indra from this mission so that focus on the defense and aerospace sector.
Meanwhile, the market expects important operations, with Vodafone Spain and Digi as possible acquisition objectives to strengthen its position in Spain first … and in Europe later.
The turn. The exceptional thing about this change is that Telefónica is about to give Sorpasso to herself: Become a technology services company above Teleco. This turning point where more than half of its business turnover will proceed with technological services, not voice or data, is close.
His new narrative as a European tractor is being well received by a market that had been waiting for a pragmatic, clear and decisive turn. The times of the global expansion without control have been left behind.
For retailers who have been seeing their heritage for years, this change of course is the arrival of spring. One that can reverde the laurels, even if it is a bit, of the old Matildes.
In Xataka | The EU has spent years fiercely fighting monopolies. Teresa Ribera has other plans for telecos
Outstanding image | Telefónica
GIPHY App Key not set. Please check settings