Budapest, February 25, 2015 18:02
Magyar Telekom (Reuters: MTEL.BU and Bloomberg: MTELEKOM HB), the
leading Hungarian telecommunications service provider, today reported its
consolidated financial results for the fourth quarter and full year of 2014, in
accordance with International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS).
Highlights:
Christopher Mattheisen, CEO commented:
“I am
pleased to announce that the favorable trends we witnessed earlier in the year
continued into the fourth quarter. As a result, we were able to further expand
both our mobile and fixed line internet and TV subscriber base in Hungary,
while ARPUs also continued to increase thanks to our successful bundling and
rebalancing strategy. At the same time, in Macedonia, we started to see some
signs of stabilization leading to a more moderate revenue and EBITDA decline. However,
in Montenegro, the new regulatory measures increased pressure on fixed line
voice revenues which could only be partly mitigated by improved operational
efficiency.
On a
full year basis, we were able to meet both our revenue and capex guidance and
even slightly exceed our EBITDA target with a ca. 1% increase predominantly due
to improved mobile and energy service margins in Hungary. We also reached some
very important milestones during 2014, including becoming the number one
provider on the pay TV market as well as strengthening our mobile technology
competitiveness via 4G by securing crucial frequencies in the mobile spectrum
tender.
Looking ahead to 2015, we aim to further strengthen
our positions across all markets. These efforts will be supported by our
agreement with Telenor Hungary on the sharing of mobile frequencies and
developing and maintaining a shared 4G network in the 800 megahertz spectrum
band in Hungary , as well as by the
acquisition of GTS Hungary which we anticipate will improve our positions in
the Hungarian fixed line business segment.
In terms of revenues, we intend
to continue to mitigate pressure stemming from the voice revenue decline by
migrating customers to bundled packages while revenues will also be supported
by the consolidation impact of GTS. Consequently, we see a revenue increase of
up to 3% in 2015 compared to 2014. Although we do expect improved efficiency
performance at our Hungarian operation and a positive impact from the GTS
acquisition, the pressure at our international operations and the ca. HUF 8
billion severance expense in relation to the headcount reduction program at the
Parent Company are anticipated to lead to an overall decline of up to 3% in our
reported EBITDA for the year. In terms of investments, after strengthening our
technological leadership in the Hungarian mobile market during 2014, we now
plan to execute a similar task in the fixed line segment to increase our
competitiveness. Therefore, we expect capex of around HUF 105 billion for 2015
that will allow us to expand our high speed internet coverage from the current
ca. 1.8 million households to over 2.2 million households. I am also pleased to
share that, based on the current operating, regulatory and taxation environment
and outlook coupled with the anticipated significant improvement in our free
cash flow generation, we expect the Company to be able to pay at least HUF 15
dividend per share on 2015 earnings.”
This investor news may contain 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 Reports for the year ended December 31, 2013 available on our website at
https://www.telekom.hu.