Good business results for Croatia’s largest telecom in the first quarter.
Croatian Telekom, the leading provider of telecommunications services in Croatia, has announced its business results for the three months of this year, reports Poslovni.hr on April 28, 2017.
The consolidation of Montenegrin Telekom in January of this year positively affected the financial results of Croatian Telecom. The total revenues in the first three months of 2017 increased by 8.7% compared to the same period last year and amounted to 1.818 billion kuna. In addition to the financial contribution of Montenegrin Telecom, the revenues have also increased in other key segments: mobile telecommunications, broadband access and television, wholesale and energy business.
EBITDA before exceptional items increased by 7.4% to 674 million kuna, with an EBITDA margin of 37.1%, which is 0.4 percentage points less than in the same period last year. Excluding the financial contribution of Montenegrin Telecom, EBITDA before exceptional items increased by 0.2% to 628 million kuna, with an EBITDA margin of 37.6%.
Net profits in the first quarter increased by 9.5% to 149 million kuna. If the impact of Montenegrin Telecom is not taken into account, net profits have increased by 6.8% to 145 million kuna.
Croatian Telekom has continued with significant investments which were up by 16.6%, including the contribution of Montenegrin Telecom. Without this effect, the realization of capital investments in the first quarter increased by 9.7% over the same period last year and amounted to 344 million kuna, which is still twice as high as all the other telecom operators together.
Indoor coverage of the 4G network is at 71.8% and is higher by 3.6 percentage points, while coverage in the external environment has reached 97.6%, an increase of 0.7 percentage points compared to the end of 2016. Coverage of population with the 4G network with download speeds of up to 225 Mbit/s has been increased by additional 2 percentage points to 52%.
In the first quarter of 2017, the fixed network provided an optic connection for additional 15,000 households, thus covering a total of 825,000 Croatian households with the new generations of access services.
Commenting on business results in the first quarter of 2017, CEO of Croatian Telecom Davor Tomašković said: “Croatian Telekom has continued to increase its key financial indicators and is on a stable path to growth. In the coming months, we will focus on further investments in our infrastructure. This will ensure technological superiority of Croatian Telecom and innovative services which are the key precondition for the best user experience and premium position on the market. Also, together with Montenegrin Telekom, we are creating preconditions for changes in that company which represents the first step towards expansion to the regional markets. Montenegrin Telekom has already taken the necessary steps to transform the company and stabilize its financial indicators.”
