Maltacom close to solution of shareholding problem

Maltacom has still not divested its 20 per cent shareholding in Vodafone, nearly two years after the Malta Communications Authority intervened.

However, Maltacom chairman Maurice Zarb Adami said yesterday that they were now "quite close to solving the problem".

"The Vodafone problem has cost us a lot of precious time and money when instead our executives should have been concentrating on Maltacom's core business," he said.

"We want to get rid of the Vodafone shares, but we want to do so at a fair price," he added.

The issue has been a long-running one which emerged when Maltacom's subsidiary, Go Mobile, penetrated the market, making Maltacom's stake in Vodafone no longer compatible.

Maltacom was required by law to sell its shares, six months from the date its subsidiary started operating in December 2000.

Mr Zarb Adami was yesterday speaking at the Le Meridien Phoenicia Hotel where he launched the financial results of the Maltacom Group for the year ending December 31.

The press conference was addressed by the group's chief operations officer, Joe Azzopardi, chief executive Stephen Muscat and finance director Edgar Borg.

Maltacom announced a pre-tax profit of Lm13.5 million for last year, an increase of 2.7 per cent over the previous year.

However, while revenue from cellular traffic soared by 30.8 per cent, that from domestic fixed line telephony dropped by 3.2 per cent and international outgoing fixed line telephony was down by 11 per cent.

"Maltacom has inherited social obligations so we have a legacy of tariffs which utilise income from overseas telephony to subsidise local calls," Mr Zarb Adami said.

By the end of last month Go Mobile had reached an active subscriber base of 110,000, taking over 40 per cent of the market share.

The company's income from internet-related services increased by 68.1 per cent, while the carriers' revenue, including roaming, also went up by 18.6 per cent.

Figures released by the group showed that the turnover increased by 7.5 per cent to Lm54.6 million, while earnings before interest, taxation, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) was up by 5.3 per cent to Lm21.8 million.

The operating profit also increased by 1.8 per cent to Lm14.3 million.

Commenting on the result, Mr Zarb Adami said that the company had achieved good results for last year in spite of the adverse global economic pressures of the past two years.