Telecoms company Go has reported improved revenue and operating profit in the first six months of the year.
Operating profit increased by 18.8 per cent to €14.6 million (2016: €12.3 million) while revenue grew by 5.6 per cent to €81 million (2016: €76.7 million). Earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) also increased by 9 per cent to €32.6 million (2016: €29.9million).
It said that growth in revenue was driven by strategic investments both in Malta as well as in Cyprus.
In the Maltese market, the ongoing rollout of Fibre-to-the-Home (“FTTH”) is leading growth in the broadband and TV client base, the company said, with the service now available to more than 50,000 homes.
An enhanced customer experience is also leading to a larger mobile customer base and growth in usage of mobile data.
"These investments are matched by ongoing improvements in GO’s product portfolio and customer service. Consequently, the number of customer connections has further increased to over 530,000, a significant portion of which were through bundled services."
In the business segment, the company said a new state of the art data centre which is currently being built will further strengthen the group’s infrastructure.
In Cyprus, Cablenet, in which Go has a big stake, continues to invest in expanding its network to reach additional towns and suburbs and to enhance network resiliency. Cablenet’s customer base now exceeds 58,000. As a result, Cablenet is also delivering growth in revenue and profitability.
Pre-tax profit of €13.5 million
For the period under review, the Go Group is reporting a profit before tax of €13.5 million.
"Although this represents a reduction over the profit of €17.1 million reported for the comparative period, the reduction is due to the comparative results including an exceptional gain of €6.1 million arising on the re-measurement of the investment in Cablenet following further acquisition of shares in January 2016." it explained.
Cash generation amounted to €28.6 million during the period under review. As at 30 June 2017 the group had a total asset base of €247.6 million, of which 43.2% was funded through equity. During the first six months of 2017, borrowings net of cash holdings decreased from €64.1 million as at 31 December 2016 to €58.2 million as at 30 June 2017.