Mexican wireless phone operator America Movil bought Chilean telecoms group Smartcom from Spain´s Endesa for $505 million. America Movil, owned by Mexican magnate Carlos Slim, said the purchase expands its client base in Chile by 1.7 million subscribers. The company has been snatching up companies throughout South America and now has 74 million cell phone subscribers throughout Latin America. In Mexico, the company operates under the brand Telcel and has 32.2 million clients.
Category: Regions
Posted inDaily Brief
Pemex Reports Earnings
Mexico’s state-owned oil giant Petroleos Mexicanos (Pemex) posted a net profit of $179 million in the second quarter, with sales up 14 percent year-on-year to $20.9 billion. The company paid $12.9 billion in taxes to the Mexican government, up 16 percent. The average price of exported Mexican crude stood at a record high of $47.90 per barrel, higher than the $27 per barrel envisaged in the government´s budget.
Posted inDaily Brief
Mexico Sells Debt
Mexico sold $189 million of peso bonds set to mature in 2024 and priced to yield 9.70 percent. The country has reduced its annual inflation rate to 4.33 percent at the end of June from as high as 5.43 percent last November, raising investor confidence and helping yields on 20-year debt drop from as high as 11.18 percent in April of this year.
Posted inDaily Brief
WTO Rebuffs EU
The World Trade Organization rejected European Union plans to triple its
banana-import tariff in a victory for Latin American producers seeking to
maintain access to the world’s biggest banana market. The EU was planning
to introduce a flat tariff of $281 a metric ton next year in place of the
existing quota-based import system. Led by Ecuador, the world’s biggest
banana exporter, seven Latin American governments earlier this year
collectively opposed the EU’s planned single tariff. The 25-nation EU buys
3.8 million tons of bananas a year
Posted inDaily Brief
Morales Shoots for the Presidency
Bolivia’s second-largest party, the Movement Toward Socialism, proclaimed
its leader, coca farmer and indigenous leader Evo Morales, as its candidate
for presidential elections scheduled in December. Morales, who lost a
run-off to Gonzalo Sanchez de Lozada in the 2002 elections, has led protests
that have toppled two presidents since 2003. He urges greater state control
of Bolivia’s minerals, forestry and natural gas reserves, South America’s
second-largest.
Posted inDaily Brief
America Movil Lifts Subscriber Growth
America Movil, controlled by Mexican billionaire Carlos Slim, raised the number of clients it expects to add this year as expanding economies boost cell phone sales across Latin America. CEO Daniel Hajj said the company will sign up 22 million new subscribers in 2005, up from the company´s previous prediction of 17 million. Colombia and Brazil helped America Movil add a record 7.4 million clients in the second quarter, more than any other carrier in the Western Hemisphere.
Posted inDaily Brief
America Movil Lifts Subscriber Growth
America Movil, controlled by Mexican billionaire Carlos Slim, raised the number of clients it expects to add this year as expanding economies boost cell phone sales across Latin America. CEO Daniel Hajj said the company will sign up 22 million new subscribers in 2005, up from the company´s previous prediction of 17 million. Colombia and Brazil helped America Movil add a record 7.4 million clients in the second quarter, more than any other carrier in the Western Hemisphere.
Posted inDaily Brief
AMLO Begins Presidential Bid
Former Mexico City Mayor Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador – affectionately known as AMLO – officially began his campaign for the country´s presidency Friday, pledging to make government assistance to the poor his top priority. He also promised to revamp Mexico´s highways and build a bullet train to the United States. AMLO, from the Democratic Revolution Party, is leading in the polls against Santiago Creel from President Vicente Fox´s National Action Party and Roberto Madrazo of the Institutional Revolutionary Party.
Posted inDaily Brief
Banorte´s Net Soars
Mexican fourth largest financial group Banorte posted a net profit of $193 million in the second quarter, a sharp increase of 249 percent year-on-year. Excluding extraordinary items the bank´s net profit rose 113 percent to $118 million.
Posted inDaily Brief
Femsa´s Net Falls
Mexico´s Coca-Cola FEMSA, the world’s second largest Coca Cola bottler, reported a net profit of $121 million in the second quarter, down 28 percent year-on-year. The company attributed the decrease to a nonrecurring profit received in the same period of 2004. FEMSA’s revenue increased 11 percent year-on-year to $1.2 billion. Coca-Cola FEMSA is a unit of Mexico’s largest beverage company Fomento Economico Mexicano (FEMSA).