30 April, 2013
T-Hrvatski Telekom (Reuters: THTC.L, HT.ZA; Bloomberg: THTC LI, HTRA CZ), Croatia’s leading telecommunications provider, announces unaudited results for the three months to 31 March 2013.
Group Highlights
- Revenue down 6.1% to HRK 1,695 million or EUR 224 million (Q1 2012: HRK 1,806 million, EUR 239 million)
- Non voice revenue up 0.5%
- Fixed broadband ARPA up 2.2% to HRK 127
- Smartphone sales at 58.0 % of total postpaid handsets sold
- EBITDA down 22.0% to HRK 609 million (EUR 80 million) and 35.9% margin (Q1 2012: HRK 780 million or EUR 103 million, 43.2%)
- EBITDA before exceptional items down 14.3% to HRK 669 million (EUR 88 million), margin at 39.5% (Q1 2012: HRK 780 million or EUR 103 million, 43.2%)
- Net profit down 34.7% at HRK 238 million (EUR 31 million), margin at 14.0%
- Operating cash flow down 19.1% to HRK 461 million (EUR 61 million)
- Capex up 73.8% to HRK 220 million
- General Assembly convoked for June 17, 2013
- Proposed dividend of HRK 20.51 per share; payout ratio equals 100% (2011: HRK 22.14 per share)
Residential Segment
- T-HT maintained its leading position in all three markets (mobile, fixed line and IP)
- Mobile subscribers down 0.8% (down 0.7% on Q4 2012)
- 523,740 broadband retail access lines, down 2.3% (down 0.5% on Q4 2012), and 347,908 TV customers, up 7.0% (up 1.2% on Q4 2012)
- Revenue down 3.9%, due mainly to lower voice revenue in mobile and fixed
- Contribution to EBITDA of HRK 640 million, down 10.6%
Business Segment
- Substantial customer base across all segments and products
- Mobile subscribers down 5.2% (down 1.0% on Q4 2012)
- 109,794 broadband retail access lines, up 2.7% (up 2.7% on Q4 2012) and 20,939 TV customers, up 6.2% (up 1.3% to Q4 2012)
- Revenue down 8.9%, due largely to lower voice revenues in mobile and fixed
- Contribution to EBITDA of HRK 397 million, down 18.7%
Ivica Mudrinić, President of the Management Board (CEO), said: Our business in the first quarter was again impacted by the sluggish economy as well as intensified regulatory and competitive pressure. In the face of this difficult environment, we have increased our efforts to maintain and grow our customer base and to promote the Group’s broadband and TV products. Whilst this necessitated significantly higher merchandise costs than in Q1 2012, we are confident that the investment will pay off soon.
The factors outlined above exerted downward pressure on our Q1 performance. Nevertheless, in light of our strong market position and strategic focus, we are maintaining our outlook for the full year 2013.
We continue to execute a strategic vision aimed at positioning the Group for growth, developing innovative products and tariffs that put the requirements of our customers at the very heart of everything we do in both the Residential and Business markets. These include customised tariffs, bundled offers, an ongoing pilot of mobile payments using NFC technology and a growing range of Cloud-based services.
We are also continuing to pilot TeraStream, the most advanced network deployment concept, which facilitates simple implementation and integration of advanced next-generation services and raises access network speeds exponentially. At the same time we are investing in next-generation 4G networks and the migration of our fixed-line customers to the IP network, to facilitate the introduction of new IP-oriented and fixed-mobile convergent services.”