Telefonica 2014 net profits plunge 34.7%

Spain's Telefonica on Wednesday reported a 34.7 percent plunge in net profits to 3.0 billion euros ($3.4 billion) in 2014, citing Venezuela's economic crisis and other exceptional costs. "A period of intense transformation... has strengthened the company, its growth potential and its financial position in just over two years,” Telefonica CEO Cesar Alerta said in the statement.