Budapest, August 8, 2013 00:00
Magyar Telekom (Reuters: MTEL.BU and Bloomberg: MTELEKOM HB), the leading Hungarian telecommunications service provider, today reported its consolidated financial results for the second quarter and first half of 2013, in accordance with International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS).
Christopher Mattheisen, CEO commented:
“I am very proud of our performance in the second quarter of 2013, as we
continue to benefit from sustained growth. In Hungary, besides further strengthening
our market position across all key segments, thanks to our retention efforts,
we have managed to minimize churn in the high margin fixed voice segment and
limit ARPU erosion in the mobile business. We strongly believe that these
developments in some of our most important KPIs validate our strategy of
bundling various services and equipment with core telecommunication services.
These operational improvements are reflected in our financial results: we saw
an 8 per cent increase in Group revenues year-on-year thanks to continued
strong results in equipment sales, energy services and SI/IT revenues.
Our profitability also reflects
improving results for the Hungarian residential business, where both direct
margin and EBITDA have increased in the second quarter. This promising trend,
coupled with our continued cost discipline, has led to a stable Group EBITDA
performance in the second quarter of 2013 compared to a year earlier.
Market conditions in Macedonia
remain challenging, with the aggressive pricing practices of our competitors
continuing to put pressure on our revenues and profitability. That being said,
we have seen some recent positive developments in this market: despite the
competition, we have been successful in stabilizing our mobile voice market
share at above 48%, while our Macedonian subsidiary
successfully acquired new frequency blocks on 800 MHz and 1800 MHz spectrums
for a total of EUR 10.3 million. This is a very important investment in the
future, as it will enable us to provide superfast mobile data services through
4G technology to our customers in Macedonia from the end of 2013.
In recent quarters, we have faced
EBITDA margin dilution driven by increasing demand for lower margin SI/IT
services and a strong take-up of equipment bundles. As these services continue
to both boost revenues and support overall profitability, it is a strategy we
plan to pursue going forward. Consequently, for the full year, we expect
revenues to increase compared to our previous guidance of flat performance.
Regarding our EBITDA guidance, we reiterate the 9-12 per cent decline that was
announced following the modification in the telecommunication tax at the end of
June, while we are still aiming for a CAPEX (excluding any spectrum acquisition
costs) of approximately 5 per cent less than last year.”
This investor news contains forward-looking statements. Statements that
are not historical facts, including statements about our beliefs and
expectations, are forward-looking statements. These statements are based on
current plans, estimates and projections, and therefore should not have undue
reliance placed upon them.
Forward-looking statements speak only as of the date
they are made, and we undertake no obligation to update publicly any of them in
light of new information or future events. Forward-looking statements involve inherent risks and uncertainties. We
caution you that a number of important factors could cause actual results to
differ materially from those contained in any forward-looking statement. Such
factors are described in, among other things, our annual financial statements
for the year ended December 31, 2012, available on our website at https://www.telekom.huwhich have been prepared in accordance
with International Financial
Reporting Standards (“IFRS”) as issued by the International Accounting
Standards Board (“IASB”) and adopted by the European Union.
In addition to figures prepared in accordance with IFRS, Magyar Telekom
also presents non-GAAP financial performance measures, including, among others,
EBITDA, EBITDA margin, underlying EBITDA, underlying EBITDA margin and net
debt. These non-GAAP measures should be considered in addition to, but not as a
substitute for, the information prepared in accordance with IFRS. Non-GAAP
financial performance measures are not subject to IFRS or any other generally
accepted accounting principles. Other companies may define these terms in
different ways. For further information relevant to the interpretation of these
terms, please refer to the chapter “Reconciliation of pro forma figures”, which
is posted on Magyar Telekom’s Investor Relations webpage at
www.telekom.hu/investor_relations.