Portugal Telecom Says Third-Quarter Revenue Jumps on Brazil

Portugal Telecom SGPS SA (PTC), Portugal’s biggest telecommunications company, reported an 83 percent gain in third-quarter revenue, boosted by Brazilian operations that helped offset a weak domestic market.

Sales rose to 1.75 billion euros ($2.4 billion), compared with the 1.76 billion-euro average estimate of analysts surveyed by Bloomberg. Earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization increased 71 percent to 654.2 million euros, the Lisbon-based company said in a statement today.

Portugal Telecom bought a stake in Brazil’s largest fixed line operator, Telemar Norte Leste SA in March, and sold its stake in Vivo Participacoes SA (VIVO4) last year for 7.5 billion euros to Spain’s Telefonica SA.

Telemar Norte Leste, also known as Oi, accounts for 46 percent of Portugal Telecom’s revenue and has helped counter a weak economy in Portugal, where the company’s third-quarter revenue fell 7.4 percent to 731 million euros.

Net income fell to 105.6 million euros from 5.35 billion euros a year earlier when Portugal Telecom had a one-time gain from the sale of the Vivo stake.

Portugal Telecom rose as much as 2.6 percent to 5.07 euros at 9:59 a.m. Lisbon time. The stock has dropped 40 percent this year, valuing the company at about 4.5 billion euros.

To contact the reporters on this story: Joao Lima in Lisbon at jlima1@bloomberg.net; Henrique Almeida in Lisbon at halmeida5@bloomberg.net

To contact the editor responsible for this story: Kenneth Wong at kwong11@bloomberg.net