Go plc profits more than triple

Telecommunications company Go plc registered an operating profit of €22.8 million last year, more than three times its €7.4 million profit posted in 2009.

However, while 2010 includes immaterial one-time adjustments, the performance of 2009 was negatively impacted by one-time transactions for voluntary retirement schemes, impairment loss on non-operational receivables, provision for pensions and financial liabilities written back.

“In spite of a challenging economic environment and more competition, the group managed to increase its turnover from €123.7 million in 2009 to €132.3 million in the year under review, representing growth of seven per cent,” Go said.

Revenue from mobile voice and data services remained stable while growth achieved in broadband and digital TV services more than offset the reduction the group continued to experience in traditional fixed line voice services.

The group experienced growth in data hosting and related activities, in part due to the fact that the comparative figures were for a period of eight months.

The group said it continued to strengthen its presence in the local market and last year its subscriber base grew across all main product lines, surpassing the 500,000 customer connections milestone. Go’s customer connections also grew by almost 38,000, an increase of eight per cent over the previous year.

It said control over expenditure remained one of the group’s main focus areas and, last year, most discretionary cost items either experienced a reduction or remained stable. Of significance were savings in employee benefit expenses amounting to €3.6 million, representing a reduction of 11.9 per cent over 2009 cost.

During the year, the group had a headcount level of 1,053 full-time employees, a reduction of 21.7 per cent when compared with the previous year.

The positive operating performance of the group was negatively impacted by the group’s share of the results of Forgendo Limited, the entity Go jointly owns with its parent company through which both companies invested in Greek telecommunications service provide Forthnet SA.

Forgendo recognised impairment losses on the value of its investment as this was revalued to reflect the current Greek economic environment and its impact on the company’s outlook.

The board of directors is recommending the payment of a final dividend of €0.05 net of tax per share for the approval of the shareholders at the next annual general meeting on June 8, which dividend will be payable on June 11.

This net dividend will be payable to shareholders on the register of shareholders as at May 9.