GO plc has published its financial results for 2016 showing a profit before tax of €28.1 million. The group’s robust performance was underpinned by significant year on year increases in revenues, which grew by €33.3 million to €157 million, and in Group Earnings before Interest, Tax, Depreciation and Amortisation (EBITDA) which grew by €10 million to €61.6 million, an increase of 19.4 per cent. A dividend of €0.11 net of tax is being recommended.
GO CEO Yiannos Michaelides said: “2016 was an encouraging and successful year for GO, as we reap the benefits of our customer-focused, long-term strategy and leverage competitive advantage from one area of the business to another. GO Group is now a larger, more diversified and more international business. The fact that we have delivered another very satisfactory year is obviously encouraging and we are now also in a position to look ahead at greater growth potential.”
He added: “The acquisition of a controlling interest in Cablenet, based in Cyprus, was a major milestone because, while consolidating our position as the leading telecommunications service provider in Malta, the group now also has a significant presence in another market, which is double the size of Malta.
The group is now a larger, more diversified and more international business
“During the year the group also acquired a controlling interest in ICT solutions company Kinetix, helping GO to move closer to achieving its ambition to become a 360 degree ICT powerhouse in Malta.’’
The increases in revenue and EBITDA were largely due to the fact that 2016 is the first full year in which GO is consolidating revenue generated by Cablenet. This represents €29.1 million of the growth in group revenue. Revenue generated in Malta also increased, growing by 3.4 per cent to €127.9 million. This was the result of the group consolidating new revenue streams, following the acquisition of a controlling interest in its new ICT services subsidiary Kinetix, and 1.9 per cent growth in GO’s retail and wholesale activities.
Although retail revenue from legacy fixed voice services continued to decline, GO experienced growth in all other retail sectors, particularly mobile and cloud-based services. Furthermore, the continuing investment in Fibre-to-the-Home, which now covers more than 40,000 households, contributed to growth in GO’s broadband client base and was also a main contributor to growth in retail revenues in 2016.