Brazil’s Oi operator posts US$650 million loss in Q1 2021, down 43.9% from 2020

RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL – Oi posted a R$3.5 billion (US$650 million) consolidated net loss in the first quarter. The result is 43.9% lower than the R$6.3 billion loss in the same period in 2020. However, when compared to the fourth quarter, when the company posted profits of R$1.8 billion, performance deteriorated.

Net revenue fell 6.2% year-on-year and closed March at R$4.4 billion. A figure that should displease analysts is the strong deterioration of the so-called routine EBITDA, which fell 25.7% on the same basis, from R$1.5 billion to R$1.1 billion.

In the report accompanying the financial statements, Oi explains that the drop in EBITDA is “almost entirely due to the reduction in revenue, mainly as a reflection of the second wave of the pandemic, particularly in the prepaid mobile segment, which makes up the revenue from discontinued operations, and in the corporate segment.”

The operator also closed March in more debt. Its net debt totaled R$25.2 billion, up 38.8% over a year ago, and 7% over the fourth quarter 2020.

This article was produced by The Rio Times’ automated newsroom system. How we use AI · Report an error