Consolidated financial results for the twelve months ended December 31st, 2004.
COSMOTE MOBILE TELECOMMUNICATIONS S.A., the leading provider of mobile tele-communication services in Greece, announces consolidated financial results for the twelve months ended December 31st, 2004, posting one of the best financial performances in the European mobile sector.
Group operating revenues for the period under review increased by 17% y-o-y, significantly higher than the respective growth rate of 13% for the Full Year of 2003. This is mainly driven by continuous, very strong growth in usage (Greek operations), combined with positive performance in the Albanian operations. COSMOTE's group EBITDA grew by 17.1% y-o-y with EBITDA margin at 42.5%. Group net income increased by 19.6% y-o-y with net income margin reaching 19.1%.
Total group operating revenues for the period under review increased by 17% to euro 1,587.8 million (including approximately euro 13 mil accounted for the management of GloBul and COSMOFON). The overall revenue increase reflects:
- +21.1% in the total "airtime and monthly service fees" revenues (+15.4% in airtime revenues, combined with +38.8% in monthly service fees revenues, that include airtime revenue incorporated in the bundled packages)
- +15.2% in interconnection revenues that for the first time include euro 15.8 million of SMS interconnection revenues .
- +61.3% in revenues from sales of handsets and accessories, following the launch of the i-mode service in the beginning of June and the introduction of new handsets, exclusively by COSMOTE.
The key driver behind the healthy revenue growth is the considerable increase in COSMOTE's (domestic operations: GREECE) traffic volumes that during the twelve months ended December 31st, 2004 increased by 28% y-o-y, due to strong positive elasticity (that offset any impact from previous years' tariff cuts and the introduction of the bundled packages).
Data revenues (which include SMS, MMS, and other "soft data" revenues from Value Added Services) represent 11.3% of total consolidated telecommunication revenues and 11.5% of domestic operations total operating revenues.
Roaming revenues in 2004 reached euro 42 mil, 2% lower than 2003 due to the significant drop in tourist arrivals during the summer months, the highest recorded decrease in the last 3 years. During the fourth quarter of the year, the Company signed 32 additional roaming agreements that at the end of FY-04 amounted to 378 in 178 countries (14 more countries compared to the end of 9m-04) . In addition, since the launch of i-mode (in June 2004) the Company has signed 40 GPRS roaming agreements in 25 countries.
Group EBITDA increased by 17.1%, reaching euro 674.5 mil while EBITDA margin stood at 42.5%. It is worth reminding that despite one-off operating expenses incurred in 2004 due to the Olympic Games held in August and the heavy promotion of i-mode following its launch in June, Greek operations EBITDA reached euro 605 mil increasing by 17.4% y-o-y, and more importantly domestic EBITDA margin was sustained at 41.1%.
Group net Earnings amounted to euro 302.5 mil, up 19.6% y-o-y with consolidated Net Income margin in FY-04 improving to 19.1%, compared to 18.6% one year ago. Domestic operations earnings grew by 20.1%, with net income margin reaching 18.8%.
Consolidated Capital Expenditures during the period under review amounted to euro 218.3 mil, leading to a CAPEX/Sales ratio of 13.7%. Capex includes euro 201.9 mil of 2G, 2.5G, Olympic Games and 3G Capex (Greek operations), and euro 16.4 mil invested in AMC (Albania).
Free cash flow at the end of 2004 stood at euro 108.5 mil including the dividend payment (for year 2003) of euro 165.5 mil, resulting in Net Debt for the period of euro 83.2 mil compared to euro 158.1 mil for the 9m-04 and euro 211.2 mil one year ago. Τhe recently announced intention for an exceptional distribution of approximately euro 300 mil to COSMOTE's shareholders, is in line with COSMOTE's effort to optimize its capital structure and is a result of the Company's continuously increasing, strong cash flow generation.
Non-recurring revenues directly related to the Olympic Games during 2004 amounted to approximately euro 25.5 mil, affected by lower than expected arrivals of Olympic visitors. The one-off Olympic-related operating expenses, which included mostly network operating expenses, marketing and payroll, amounted to approximately euro 32.1 mil. Olympic Games related Capex incurred in 2004 was euro 33 mil with an estimated reusability of 92%.
Excluding the above mentioned Olympics related non-recurring items incurred in 2004, consolidated operating revenues for the year 2004 would have increased by 15%, while Group EBITDA margin would have stood at 43.6%.
It is reminded that, as of October 1st 2004, the fixed to mobile and mobile to mobile interconnection rates applied in the Greek mobile market were reduced by approximately 15%-20%, affecting both the Company's revenues and costs.
Blended AMOU during FY-04 increased by 16.8% (y-o-y) to 132 min. This is driven by the continuous quarterly strong growth in contract AMOU that at the end of FY-04 was 56 minutes higher compared to a year ago (26.3% increase). This strong positive trend evident on a quarterly basis throughout 2003 and 2004, underlines the fact that voice usage still represents the key growth driver in the Greek mobile market.
COSMOTE blended ARPU for the period under review (at euro 31.3) was 6.1% higher compared to a year ago. Contract ARPU at the end of FY-04 reached euro 56.1 (+13.8% y-o-y) as a result of the successful take up of the bundled packages and positive usage elasticity.
COSMOTE operates in 4 countries of the Southeastern European region: through direct ownership in Greece & in Albania and, since January 2003, through management contracts, in Bulgaria and FYROM. The customer base of its consolidated companies at the end of 2004 stood at:
FY - 2004 COSMOTE (Greece) AMC (Albania)
Total Prepaid 2,515,117 622,348
Total Contract 1,636,230 16,380
Total Customer base 4,151,347 638,728
During the twelve months of 2004 COSMOTE added 40,378 net new contract additions and 193,959 net new prepaid additions reaffirming its leading position in the Greek mobile market. COSMOTE's annualized churn rate for the twelve months of 2004 was 22.7%.
During 2004 GloBul added 621,172 net new additions, bringing the total number of customers at the end of 2004 to 1.62 million, 61.9% higher than a year ago. At the same time, COSMOFON had 149,217 net new additions, with its total customer base surpassing 233,000 (a 177% yearly increase).
In 2004, AMC contributed approximately 7.6% to consolidated revenues and 10.3% to group EBITDA.
AMC's revenues at the end of 2004 were 13.5% higher compared to a year ago, reaching euro 121.2 million (in local currency revenue increase was ~5.3%).
AMC's EBITDA margin in FY-04 improved to 57.6% while Net Income margin stood at 29.3%.