Endemol, creator of the Big Brother television phenomenon, could be floated on the stock market before the end of this year, according to Telefonica, the Spanish telecommunications group that owns the production company.
Cesar Alierta, Telefonica chairman, told analysts that although he was happy with the performance of the business, he was aiming for a late 2005 or early 2006 initial public offering. The company hired Merrill Lynch this year to begin working towards a flotation date, and favours a London listing.
His comments came as Telefonica unveiled a 30.6 per cent year-on-year increase in net profits, helped by an aggressive push into immature ADSL markets in Spain and Latin America.
Profits were slightly below expectations at €3.29 billion, or €0.58 a share, compared with €2.2 billion, or €0.44, in 2003. Of group sales of €30.3 billion, up 6.8 per cent, mobile phones unit Telefonica Moviles accounted for €12.1 billion, up 15.6 per cent.
Officials attributed this to the partial consolidation of BellSouth's wireless activities in Latin America, which the Spanish company bought last year for $5.8 billion, as well as Telefonica's Chilean mobile operations.
However, a 25 per cent surge in operating costs - due mainly to consolidation expenses and the weakness of the US dollar against the euro - left net profits at Telefonica Moviles ahead just 1.6 per cent, at €1.6 billion.
