Telefonica Revenues Up 0.7%

Telefonica's revenues amounted to 57,061 million euros in 2013 an increase of 0.7% on the previous year. The main growth drivers were the 51% of revenues generated by Telefonica Latinoamerica up 9.6% on the year and mobile data revenues up 9.3% which more than offset the pressure in Europe caused by regulation and the highly competitive market. The fourth quarter revenues were positive for the third consecutive quarter. Net profits in 2013 amounted to 4,593m euros and the basic earnings per share (EPS) totalled 1.01 euros.

The executive chairman commented that Telefonica had advanced significantly in its transformation process achieving the targets set for the year and their intention to accelerate the transformation in 2014. The transformation strategy was started last year and Telefonica has since strengthened its commitment to a sustainable long-term growth model. It is competing in high value segments and markets. It is also focusing on improved efficiency, growth areas, portfolio management and enhancing financial flexibility.

Thorntons Transformation Continues But Consumer Confidence A Worry

Thorntons strategy is continuing to deliver and is maintaining momentum. The transformation has seen overall sales revenue increase by 4.5% to £139.7m with both the FMCG and the retail divisions performing well. FMCG is now the largest division by revenues and will be for full year 2014. Pre-tax profits and exceptional items went up 47.3% to £7.2m. It is the third consecutive half of improved profits and assets.

The brand is still very strong with high spontaneous awareness and outperforms other mass premium brands. Thorntons remains the highest gift purchase consideration in the chocolate category with 67% and maintains its strong market share. Customer satisfaction levels remain high.

Investments in working capital and capital expenditure have helped reduce short-term cash flow and the trend is expected to continue for the next two or three years. The gearing ratio has been reduced by continued increase in net assets. Net assets improved for the third consecutive financial half and net debt growing at a lower ratio helped reduce gearing. The focus is on restoring the financial health of the business but these encouraging results show that the strategy is right and is delivering improvements in financial performance.

Thorntons is based on a 65 acre site at Alfreton in Derbyshire, with state of the art manufacturing facilities covering 30,000sqm producing 35,000 tonnes of chocolate per annum. It has over 2000 employees, 1100 of which are permanent. The staff turnover is very low. They are highly skilled staff with an average of 10 years experience. Thorntons has a 'World Class' manufacturing capability but they realize the importamnce of having a strong customer focus.

Thorntons intend to maintain their strategic direction of 'rebalance, revitalise and restore'. The chocolate market will continue to grow and remains competitive. There are new products to be launched for the key seasonal markets of Easter but a lack of consumer confidence remains a worry so the future will be approached with some caution.

Europe 2020 Strategy Indicators

The European Council's Europe 2020 Strategy objectives as expressed in the 5 targets of employment, research and development, climate change and energy, education and poverty and social exclusion monitored on the basis of Eurostat headline indicators are the subject of a statistical bulletin from Eurostat.

Employment is the first key objective of the Europe 2020 Strategy. The target set for 2020 is 75% of those aged 20-64 in EU27. The employment rate increased from 66.6% in 2000 to 70.3% in 2008 but follwing the economic crisis it fell again to 68.6% in 2011.

Research and development expenditure has grown from 1.86% of GDP in 2000 to 2% in 2010. The target for 2020 is 3% of GDP.

The headline indicators for climate change and energy have three elements: greenhouse gas reduction, increase in the share of renewable energy in final energy consumption and an increase in energy efficiency. The greenhouse gas target for 2020 is a 20% reduction on 1990 levels. A steady decrease has resulted in a decline of 15% by 2010 on 1990. The target for renewable energy is a 20% share of gross final energy consumption. It has grown steadily from 8.1% in 2004 to 12.5% in 2010. The target for energy efficiency for 2020 for the EU27 is primary energy consumption of 1474m tonnes of oil equivalent (mTOE). The level has fluctuated but increased from 1560mTOE to 1650mTOE in 2010.

The objectives for education for 2020 are a decrease in the number of early school leavers and an increase in the number of people completing tertiary education. The target for 2020 is to reduce the share of the population aged 18-24 with at most lower secondary education and not currently in tertiary education or training to below 10% and to increase the share of those aged 30-34 in the EU27 having completed tertiary education to 40% or more. The share of early school leavers has decreased continuously from 17.6% in 2000 to 13.5% in 2011. The share of those having completed tertiary education has also increased steadily from 22.4% in 2000 to 34.6% in 2011.

The fifth key objective is a reduction of poverty and social exclusion, including monetary poverty, material deprivation and lack of access to the labour market. The 2020 target is to reduce the number of people affected by at least one of the three dimensions of poverty by 20m. The number has decreased from 123.9m in 2005 to 113.8m in 2009 but increased again to 115.7m in 2010.