América Móvil profitability facing a squeeze. Mexico-based telecoms giant América Móvil reported a six-fold increase in profits to MXN15.7bn (US$835mn) in the fourth quarter of 2015. The improvement was largely due to a sharp reduction in exchange rate losses, which reduced financial costs. Profits represented MXN0.24 per share or US$0.28 per ADR. In contrast Ebitda, which many analysts see as a better indication of underlying profitability, was MXN63.9bn or US$3.39bn in the quarter, down 2.9% on the same year-earlier period. Fourth quarter revenues grew by 0.6%. Mobile data revenue grew by 10%, fixed line data was up by 7.9%, and…

With oil and gas prices at record lows, Latin America’s national oil companies (NOCs) are losing money and facing high levels of economic stress. Mexico’s Pemex and Brazil’s Petrobras – which usually top the rankings as the largest companies in Latin America – are having a particularly tough time. Here we summarise how they are faring. On 8 February Mexican President Enrique Peña Nieto appointed José Antonio González, until then the head of the national social security institute, as the new head of Pemex, unexpectedly replacing Emilio Lozoya Austin, who had been running the company for the preceding three years.…

Brazil has become a difficult operating environment for a number of large domestic and for some international companies. It is in year two of one of the steepest recessions experienced in a generation. The Brazilian real is depreciating sharply, inflation has pushed up into two digits, the country has some of the highest interest rates in the world, and the investigation of a major corruption scandal around state oil company Petrobras has spread like a spiders’ web to compromise many of its private contractors and suppliers. Companies are taking a battering, and doubts are rising over their ability to service…