America Movil, the largest Latin American mobile phone company, said on Tuesday it sees strong subscriber growth in its top three markets, sending its shares 4 percent higher.

During a conference call with analysts, Chief Financial Officer Carlos Garcia Moreno said America Movil expected to add at least 3.25 million new subscribers in top markets Mexico, Brazil and Argentina in the current quarter. On Monday, it posted sterling quarterly results.

America Movil ended September with 54.1 million cellular subscribers across the region. Including fixed lines, total clients rose to 55.9 million.In its home market of Mexico, America Movil could add 1.5 million clients in the quarter ending in December.

"My feeling is one million to 1.2 million (new) subscribers in Brazil in the fourth quarter," Garcia Moreno said. "In Argentina, we have Mother's Day in October ... plus Christmas, it's going to be 50 percent more than what we have today, maybe 750,000 to 800,000 new subscribers in the quarter."

The company, controlled by Mexican billionaire Carlos Slim, Monday reported that third-quarter profit more than tripled on strong subscriber growth in all of its markets and on foreign exchange gains.

America Movil operates in Mexico, the United States and eight other Latin American nations."America Movil results beat expectations, with growth surprising on the upside but margins suffering," wrote analyst Whitney Johnson with Merrill Lynch.

She noted that Brazil, a major concern for many analysts, as well as Argentina were positive surprises in the quarter.But some analysts remained a bit cautious about future performance. Brisk subscriber growth has increased costs and subsidies, pushing profit margins lower.

"We do not expect America Movil to outperform the market in the near future based on concerns that margins will remain low in Argentina and Brazil, putting pressure on consolidated valuation," wrote analyst Xavier Escala with Banif Securities.America Movil L shares were up 1.13 points at 23.55 pesos, while its New York-traded stock jumped 5.5percent to $41.

(From Reuters, October 26, 2004)

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