SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE COMMISSION
Washington, D. C. 20549
FORM 8-K
CURRENT REPORT
Pursuant to Section 13 or 15(d) of the
Securities Exchange Act of 1934
Date of Report (Date of earliest event reported):
January 20, 1999
BELLSOUTH CORPORATION
(Exact name of registrant as specified in its charter)
Georgia 1-8607 58-1533433
(State or other (Commission (IRS Employer
jurisdiction of File Number) Identification
incorporation) No.)
1155 Peachtree Street, N. E., Atlanta, Georgia 30309-3610
(Address of principal executive offices) (Zip Code)
Registrant's telephone number, including area code
(404) 249-2000
Item 5. Other Events
BellSouth Recognizes Brazilian Currency Devaluation
On January 20, 1999, BellSouth released a statement concerning
a recent currency devaluation in Brazil. See Exhibit 99 for
a complete copy of the related press release.
Item 7. Financial Statements and Exhibits
(c) Exhibits
Exhibit No.
99 Press Release - BellSouth Recognizes Brazilian
Currency Devaluation
SIGNATURE
Pursuant to the requirements of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934,
the registrant has duly caused this report to be signed on its behalf
by the undersigned thereunto duly authorized.
BELLSOUTH CORPORATION
By: /s/ W. Patrick Shannon
W. Patrick Shannon
Vice President and Controller
January 20, 1999
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE FOR MORE INFORMATION
Jan. 20, 1999 Al Schweitzer 404-249-2832
Tim Klein 404-249-4135
BELLSOUTH RECOGNIZES BRAZILIAN CURRENCY DEVALUATION
Remains Confident of Growth Potential for Brazil and Latin
America
ATLANTA - As a result of the recent currency devaluation in
Brazil, BellSouth Corporation (NYSE:BLS) said today that it
expects to record a foreign exchange impact on earnings for
the first quarter of 1999. The amount is yet to be
determined, but based on the floating rate of the Brazilian
real as of Jan. 19 and BellSouth's share of the US dollar
debt of its Brazilian investments of about $1 billion, it
would be approximately $172 million, or 9 cents per share.
BellSouth said its commitment to Brazil and Latin America
remains solid. "Latin America is THE growth region in the
world for the next decade," said Duane Ackerman, chairman
and chief executive officer of BellSouth. "We have more
than 10 years of operating experience in the region during
which there have been periods of economic fluctuations."
"We have tremendous growth opportunities throughout the
area, as evidenced by the one million cellular customers we
added in Brazil in less than eight months. We are convinced
our Latin American investments will continue to be a growth
engine for us as we enter the new millennium," he added.
The company has said it expects growth in earnings per share
of 12 percent to 14 percent in 1999. In addition, an
anticipated change in accounting for software will add
approximately 7 percent to earnings growth this year. This
range of EPS growth (19 percent to 21 percent) excludes the
impact of currency devaluations in Brazil.
BellSouth is a $23 billion communications services company.
It provides telecommunications, wireless communications, cable and
digital TV, directory advertising and publishing, and
Internet and data services to nearly 33 million customers in
19 countries worldwide.
NOTE: For more information about BellSouth Corporation,
visit the BellSouth Web page at: <http://www.bellsouth.com>.
# # #
Note: Statements that do not address historical
performance are "forward-looking statements" within
the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation
Reform Act of 1995 and are based on a number of
assumptions, including but not limited to: (1)
continued domestic economic growth and demand for
BellSouth's services; (2) economic, monetary,
regulatory and political stability where BellSouth
conducts its international operations; (3) the
reasonable accuracy of BellSouth's estimates of the
weakening of currencies in Latin America as compared
to the U.S. dollar; (4) the reasonable accuracy of
BellSouth's expectations of costs and recoveries with
respect to access reform, universal service and
interconnection; (5) the reasonable accuracy of
BellSouth's estimate of regulatory authorization to
provide wireline long distance services and the impact
of competition in its markets; and (6) satisfactory
identification and completion of Year 2000 software
and hardware revisions by BellSouth and entities with
which it does business. Any developments significantly
deviating from these assumptions could cause actual
results to differ materially from those forecast or
implied in the aforementioned forward-looking
statements.
