In Q1, Optima Recorded a decrease in sales of 17.9%, an increase in EBITDA of 4% and a net loss of HRK 4.1m.

In the first quarter of 2020, Optima Telekom recorded a decrease in sales of 17.9% YoY amounting to HRK 111.56m. Total revenues from telecommunication business in the Q1 2020 recorded a decrease of 18.6% YoY. Such decrease came mostly on the back of lower revenue from interconnection business activities of 66.8%, as a result of the reduction of business activities in the area of international voice services transit (75.8%). This decrease in transit revenue is proportionally followed by transit costs decrease, and therefore an impact on EBITDA margin was negligible.

The revenue from public voice service recorded a decrease of 12.0%, which has been a global trend for a longer period of time. In Q1, revenue from the internet recorded a decrease of 5.3%, mostly as a result of an increased demand for mobile network internet. Negative impacts of the above mentioned segments of revenue from telecommunications business are partly compensated with an increase in multimedia revenue of 9.8% (in the focus of Company business activities), as well as an increase in data revenue of 3.2%, as a result of selling new data services and stopping a significant outflow of data services.

In the first quarter of 2020, Optima reported EBITDA (before one time items after lease) of HRK 29.3m, representing an increase of 4% YoY. The increase could mainly be explained by improved business operations cost effectiveness. Such result puts the EBITDA margin at 26.1% (+6.1 p.p. YoY). Meanwhile, an increase in depreciation and amortization by HRK 2.1m lead to an operating profit decrease of 22.5% to HRK 5.6m.

Going further down the P&L, in Q1 Optima witnessed a further decrease of their net financial result which stood at HRK -9.56m (by HRK -2.45m) mostly on the back of FX losses (HRK -6m). This consequently led to a net loss of HRK 4.1m compared to a net loss of HRK -0.55m in Q1 2019.