Optima Telekom published their H1 2019 results showing a flattish top line performance, EBITDA up 19.2% YoY & net profit of HRK 5m (up from last year’s loss of HRK -3.3m).
Optima Telekom released their H1 2019 results yesterday, showing a flattish top line performance as sales amounted to HRK 265.4m (-0.2% YoY). The revenue decrease was mostly caused by a decline from public voice service (10.4%), which has been a global trend for some time now. The effect of these revenues decline was offset by increased interconnection revenues of 11.4%, which is a consequence of an increased volume of low profit international transit, as well as an additional revenue increase from selling equipment and ICT services. Furthermore, there was a slight growth in multimedia revenue of 2.7%, which is alongside Internet one of the two mediums in the focus of the company’s business operations. It is also worth noting that the decrease in revenues from public voice services was significantly lowered in Q2, amounting to just 0.5% (from 4.3% in Q1). Meanwhile, when observing the revenue on a half-year basis, the decrease in revenues from data services is 2.4% lower when compared to the same period last year.
When observing the company’s EBITDA (before one time items after lease), it amounted to HRK 62.5m, which represents an increase of 19.2% YoY. According to the report, for the most part, this is a result of the business operations cost optimization. Note that this EBITDA represents an operational result which is neutralized with IFRS 16 effect. Going further down the P&L, the company reported an increase in EBIT by 130.9% YoY, amounting to HRK 20.6m.
As a result, net profit surged, turning the net loss recorded in Q1 into a net profit of HRK 5m. Furthermore, the improvement is very visible on a YoY basis as well since the company ended H1 2018 with a net loss of HRK -3.8m
Turning our attention to the balance sheet, the company’s net debt amounted to HRK 405.5m (+11.6% since the beginning of the year) which can be attributed to the new debt caused by the introduction of the IFRS 16. If one was to exclude the new lease liabilities, net debt would actually be down 2.7% since the beginning of the year.
In H1 2019 CAPEX amounted to HRK 46.3 million, out of which HRK 14.1m. The mentioned amount was invested in user equipment for providing service to residential and business users. Investments in building optical infrastructure, access network and core network amounted to HRK 9.4m, while HRK 22.8m was invested in expanding of user service and IT system. Within network building, there is an integration of new Internet hub in the Optima Telekom network which also consists of 100Gb/s interfaces. These will enable interconnection with transport networks as well as with networks of other operators with 100Gb/s in the near future.
