Grupo Oi SA, Brazil's biggest fixed-line phone company, reported a 13 percent drop in first-quarter profit on Thursday as higher financial expenses weighed on its bottom line.Oi earned 227.5 million reais ($103.6 million) in the quarter, compared with 262.3 million reais a year earlier, according to a securities filing.Financial expenses rose 57.1 percent on an annual basis to 1.2 billion reais due to higher debt levels, an increase in interest rates, and the depreciation of Brazil's currency, the real, against the dollar.Earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization, rose 37.5 percent to 2.95 billion reais, boosted by the sale of cellular towers, which raised 1.3 billion reais.
Oi SA, formerly Brasil Telecom SA, is a Brazil-based holding company engaged in the provision of Switched Fixed-line Telephony Services (STFC) domestically and internationally. Shares of OIBR fell by 2.92% or $-0.0258/share to $0.86. In the past year, the shares have traded as low as $0.84 and as high as $2.44. On average, 13166500 shares of OIBR exchange hands on a given day and today's volume is recorded at 3165471.
Shares of OIBR-C fell by 1.19% or $-0.0113/share to $0.94. On average, 0 shares of OIBR-C exchange hands on a given day and today's volume is recorded at 716733.
Source
