In the 9M of 2021, Optima recorded a slight decrease in sales of 0.4%, EBITDA before one-time items after leases was up 1% and net profit of HRK 450k.

In the first 9m of 2021, Optima Telekom recorded a slight decrease in sales of 0.4%, amounting to HRK 333.6m. Revenues from public voice service in the 9M of 2021 were lower by 8.0% YoY due to the general trend at the global level. Internet revenues recorded a decline of 6.5% YoY due to a smaller customer base and increased demand for the Internet via mobile networks. Meanwhile, revenues from data services decreased by 6.5% YoY mostly due to the termination of contracts with one major user of data services. At the same time, Interconnection revenues increased by 68.2% primarily due to the growth of revenues from voice transit services.

Operating expenses remained flat in the 9M period, amounting to HRK 320.6m. As a result, consolidated EBITDA before one-time items after leases amounts to HRK 91.7m (+1% YoY). The company notes that realized EBITDA is a reflection of the positive effects of the application of IFRS 16 due to seasonal trends. This puts EBITDA margin at 27.3%, indicating an increase of 0.4 p.p. YoY.

At the same time, operating profit amounted to HRK 15.8m, showing a decrease of 9.9% YoY. Such a result can be attributed also to a somewhat higher depreciation in 2021.

Going further down the P&L, the company noted a net financial loss of HRK 15.2m (compared to HRK -19.9m in 9m 2021). The relatively better financial result led to the company reporting a profit of HRK 450k (compared to HRK -3.1m).

Since ACEA published their report on new vehicles registration for September, today we bring you an overview of new vehicle registration in the EU in September.

In September 2021, demand for new passenger cars in the EU was down by 23.1% YoY, amounting to 718,598 units (compared with 934,039 in 2020). According to ACEA, this marked the lowest number of registrations for a month September since 1995. We note that this decrease in sales was mainly caused by a lack of supply of vehicles due to the ongoing semiconductor shortage.

When looking at major EU markets, biggest decline was recorded in Italy  (-32.7%), followed by Germany (-25.7%), France (-20.5%) and Spain (-15.7%). Of EU member states Cyprus and Estonia were the only states which recorded increase of 12.1% and 8.2%, respectively.

When observing Jan-Sep 2021 period, new car registrations in the EU were up by 6.6% YoY, reaching 7.5m units registered in total.

Turning our attention to the situation in the region, Croatia posted a decline of 10.7% YoY in September, reaching 2,749 cars. In the meantime, Slovenia noted similar decline of 7% (reaching 4,127 units).

If we were to look at the car registration from the beginning of the year Croatia noted an increase of total units of 31.5% YoY (37,135 cars), while the Slovenian market noted a decrease of 0.3%, reaching 43,098 cars.