Telecoms group Go has registered a pre-tax profit of €26.5 million for 2012 after turning its fortunes around following its 2011 loss of €45.2 million.
Shareholders’ funds increased from €83.4 million as at December 2011 to €101.6 million
Go said yesterday that last year’s results were positively impacted by a gain of €11.4 million following the sale of a tract of land at Qawra; 2011 was negatively impacted by a significant impairment of Go’s investment in Forthnet S.A. and by a number of one-time only charges.
Normalised operating profit stood at €22.2 million, down from 2011’s €23.7 million, while normalised EBITDA was flat at €51.3 million.
The profit per share amounted to €0.171 as against a loss per share of €0.503 in 2011.
The board of directors is recommending the payment of a final net dividend of €0.10 net of taxation per share.
The payment of this net dividend amounts to the sum of €10.1 million. The final dividend will be paid May 10 to shareholders on the shareholders’ register as at April 5.
Group revenue amounted to €127.2 million, a reduction of 3.4 per cent over 2011. The reduction is the result of a combination of lower retail activity and the impact of regulation, and substantially lower mobile termination rates.
Cost of sales, administrative and related costs, excluding non-recurring items, amounted to €104.6 million.
While various costs directly related to growth areas of broadband and TV experienced an increase, Go also benefitted from lower costs to terminate calls on third party networks and achieved reduction in most cost categories that result from on-going operations ranging from payroll to most administrative costs. Overall Go experienced a reduction of 3.9 per cent in its cost base.
2011 performance was negatively impacted as the company impaired its investment in Forthnet S.A. by €62.3 million following a change in the way it values this investment.
After December 2011, Forthnet registered further significant consolidated losses as the company continued to experience adverse trading conditions also as a result of the uncertain economic and market conditions prevailing in Greece.
Further impairment losses during the current year amounting to €3.7 million were reflected so that the carrying amount of the remaining exposures to Forgendo was adjusted downwards to nil.
Net cash generated from operations amounted to €40 million (2011: €35.1 million). Both years include one-time items relating to pensions and voluntary retirement costs while 2012 includes a refund of tax relating to prior periods.
Normalised cash flow from operations for 2012 amounted to €39.5 million, marginally below the €40.4 million generated in 2011. In 2012, the group’s investments implied a cash outflow of €27.6 million, an increase of €2 million over the comparative year.
Besides maintaining a significant level of investment in its technical infrastructure, during the year the group also completed a transaction with the Government through which it consolidated its ownership of various key properties.
Shareholders’ funds increased from €83.4 million as at December 2011 to €101.6 million at the end of 2012. The increase is due to another year of solid operating performance and the one-off upside that resulted from the sale of land at Qawra.
The group’s total asset base stands at €238.2 million, an increase of €23.2 million. Significant contributors to this increase are property and cash holdings. As at the end of the reporting period, the group held a property portfolio of €54.3 million.
Go said it retained a strong presence in the local market across all product lines and remains the leading telecommunications service provider with almost 500,000 customer connections.