MADRID (Reuters) -Spanish telecom company Telefonica reported a first-quarter net loss of 1.3 billion euros ($1.45 billion) on Wednesday, following a write-down of the value of its units sold in Peru and Argentina.

Analysts had forecast a loss of 1.32 billion euros, according to a consensus provided by the company.

Excluding capital losses from its Latin American disposals — 1.2 billion euros in Argentina and 500 million euros in Peru — Telefónica reported an operating profit of 427 million euros.

The company said its first-quarter revenue fell 2.9% to 9.22 billion euros, slightly surpassing analysts' expectations of 9.1 billion euros.

Telefonica has scaled back operations in several Spanish-speaking Latin American markets with lower returns than capital costs, choosing instead to focus on Spain, Brazil, Britain, and Germany.

Last month, the company agreed to sell its Peruvian operations at a fraction of the price it paid 30 years ago and sold its Argentina unit at $1.25 billion .

The company had already written off 314 million euros on the value of its Peruvian unit in the third quarter of 2024.

Telefonica retained its annual outlook and dividend plans.

($1 = 0.8941 euros)

(Reporting by Inti Landauro; Editing by Jesús Aguado and Sherry Jacob-Phillips)

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