Financial Results 9M 2003
COSMOTE MOBILE TELECOMMUNICATIONS S.A., the leading provider of mobile tele-communication services in Greece, announces consolidated financial results for the first nine months of 2003, reaffirming consistent and strong profitability.
REPORTABLE SEGMENT ANALYSIS (US GAAP, unaudited)
(amounts in euros '000) Greece Albania / AMC Consolidated
9m-03 9m-02 Δ% 9m-03 9m-02 Δ% 9m-03 9m-02 Δ%
Revenues 918,785 815,685 12.6 78,496 75,424 4.1 994,113 886,929 12.1
EBITDA 380,593 333,713 14.1 44,696 52,629 -15.1 425,255 386,416 10.1
EBITDA margin 41.4% 40.9% 56.9% 69.8% 42.8% 43.6%
Net Income 171,069 151,283 13.1 22,857 24,409 -6.4 187,192 169,669 10.3
Net Inc. margin 18.6% 18.5% 29.1% 32.4% 18.8% 19.1%
Group operating revenues for the period under review amounted to ? 994.1 mil, up 12.1% y-o-y, mainly driven by continually enhanced usage in Greek operations, combined with stable performance in the Albanian operations (please see table above).
Within a continually competitive market and despite ongoing regulatory changes (that do not allow for a direct comparison y-o-y), COSMOTE' s group EBITDA margin stood at 42.8%, higher than the 42.4% margin of H1-03. It is noted that group EBITDA margin during the third quarter of 2003 reached 43.5%.
Group Earnings amounted to 187.2 mil euros (+ 10.3% y-o-y), with net income margin at 18.8%. It is also noted that group free cash flow reached 49.5 mil euros (post full 2002 dividend payment of 115.6 mil euros in cash), while Net Debt stood at 305.4 mil euros.
2. FINANCIAL REVIEW
Total group operating revenues for the nine months ended September 30, 2003 increased by 12.1% to reach 994.1 million euros. Excluding the change in OTE?s accounting policy regarding Fixed to Mobile revenues (that are recorded net instead of gross since the end of Q1-03), y-o-y group operating revenue growth in 9m-03 would have been over 15%.
The overall revenue increase mainly reflects the 13.3% increase in airtime revenues, the 17.3% increase in monthly service fees, the 12% increase in SMS revenues, the 34.4% increase in roaming revenues and the 6.9% increase in interconnection revenues. Revenues from telecommunications services increased by almost 12.4% during the period under review, representing approximately 98% of total revenues.
CONDENSED QUARTERLY CONSOLIDATED FINANCIAL RESULTS
(amounts in euros '000) Q3-03 Q2-03 q-o-q Δ% Q3-02 y-o-y Δ%
Total Operating Revenues 371,819 325,167 14.4% 335,805 10.7%
Total Operating Expenses 210,253 188,518 11.5% 186,115 13.0%
EBITDA 161,566 136,649 18.2% 149,690 7.9%
EBITDA Margin 43.5% 42.0% 44.6%
Net Income (after minority interests) 72,504 60,984 18.9% 70,237 3.2%
Net Income Margin 19.5% 18.8% 20.9%
On a quarterly basis total operating revenues increased by 14.4%, higher than the respective y-o-y growth of approx. 11%. On the other hand total operating costs increased by a lower rate (11.5%) resulting in a quarterly EBITDA increase of 18.2% and a respective Net Income growth of almost 19%. The q-o-q (Q2-03 vs Q3-03) financial performance (that allows for a direct comparison among P&L lines ) demonstrates the Company's underlying growth.
The key driver behind the healthy revenue growth is the significant increase in COSMOTE' s (domestic operations: GREECE) traffic volumes that during the nine months ended September 30, 2003 have increased by approximately 33% y-o-y.
The significant tariff cuts (on average -25%) effected with the introduction of the bundled packages were offset by the aforementioned traffic increase, evidence of sustainable positive usage elasticity. As a result COSMOTE?s (domestic) revenues grew by 12.6% with airtime revenues increasing by 16.2%.
In addition data revenues (which include SMS, WAP and other ?soft data? revenues from Value Added Services) represent approximately 12% of total consolidated revenues and 13% of domestic operations revenues.
Roaming revenues grew y-o-y by 34.4%, accounting for 3.7% of total consolidated revenues, from 3.1% a year ago. During the third quarter of the year, the Company signed ten (10) additional roaming agreements that at the end of 9m-03 amounted to 294, in 142 countries (11 more countries compared to H1-03).
As previously mentioned consolidated profitability was sustained at high levels, with EBITDA reaching 425.3 mil euros, and EBITDA margin 42.8%. The small decrease in group EBITDA margin (0.8 p.p.) compared to one year ago, is attributed to the dilution of AMC?s EBITDA margin (to 56.9% from 69.8% in 9m-02) due to the introduction of mobile to mobile termination charges.
Furthermore Greek operations EBITDA (COSMOTE 'stand alone') reached 380.6 million euros representing a 14.1% y-o-y growth. As a result domestic EBITDA margin reached 41.4% (excluding the effect of M2M: 47.8%), which is the highest ever recorded, underlining the fact that domestic operational results are positive and represent a strong foundation going forward.
Group Earnings amounted to 187.2 mil euros, up 10.3% y-o-y impacted by an increase in AMC's financial expenses (due to foreign exchange differences in the third quarter compared to gains in the first half of 2003). Earnings per share also increased by 10.3% and therefore EPS during the period under review was 0.567 euro up from 0.514 euro a year ago (and 0.347 euro in H1-03). Consolidated Net Income margin in 9m-03 stood at 18.8%.
Domestic operations earnings grew by 13.1%, to reach ? 171.1 mil, with net income margin almost stable at 18.6% y-o-y. Greek operations earnings reaffirm the sustained strong operational and financial performance evidenced in the local market.
Finally, Free Cash Flow at the end of 9m-03 reached 49.5 mil euros. It is noted that in Q3-03 the full dividend amount for year 2002 (approx. 115.6 mil euros) was paid in cash. Consequently, Net Debt reached 305 mil. euros.
Capital Expenditures during the period under review have notably decreased to 102.5 mil euros, from 161 mil eurosin 9m-02, leading to a CAPEX/Sales ratio of 10.3% compared to 18.1% a year ago.
KEY PERFORMANCE INDICATORS: ARPU & AMOU (COSMOTE GREECE)
H1-02 9m02 FY2002 Q1-03 H1-03 9m03
AMOU, blended (min) 91 95 98 96 101 108
AMOU, contract (min) 155 164 169 180 191 205
ARPU, blended (euros) 28.4 29.8 30 27.5 28.0 29.1
ARPU, contract (euros) 42.8 46.2 46.7 44.3 46.4 48.9
SMS , blended 42 42 41 39 39 38
Blended AMOU during 9m-03 has increased by 13.7% (y-o-y) to reach 108 min. This is driven by the continuous quarterly strong growth in contract AMOU that during the 9m-03 was 41 minutes higher compared to a year ago (~ 25% increase). It is noted that contract AMOU during the Q3-03 exceeded 231 min, resulting in a blended Q3-03 AMOU of approximately 118 min. This strong positive trend, a continuation of the trend that started in 2002 and is enhanced on a quarterly basis throughout 2003, once again underpins the fact that voice usage represents the key growth driver in the Greek mobile market.
COSMOTE blended ARPU for the period under review (at 29.1 euros) was slightly lower compared to a year ago, absorbing:
- the significant tariff cuts (as previously mentioned)
- the dilution effect from the higher proportion of prepaid customers in the total customer base (~61% compared to ~54% at the end of 9m-02) and
- the change in OTE's F2M accounting policy (-0.7 euro effect on blended ARPU) Blended ARPU was positively affected by the increase in contract ARPU that at end of 9m-03 was 48.9 euros(+5.8% y-o-y).
Furthermore Q3-03 blended ARPU has been enhanced to 31 euros, with the respective contract ARPU exceeding 54 euros. This is attributed to the aforementioned ongoing growth in usage that to a large extent has offset the recent tariff rebalancing and the lower fixed to mobile interconnection charges.
The blended average monthly number of SMS per customer stood at 38, compared to 42 a year ago, impacted by different SMS usage patterns . The Company has (since launch) recorded approximately 190,000 MMS users that currently send on average around 17,000 MMS per day.
B. ALBANIAN MOBILE COMMUNICATIONS Sh.a (AMC)
COSMOTE has been consolidating its majority owned subsidiary in Albania since year 2000. During the nine months ended September 30, 2003 AMC contributed approximately 7.9% to the Company?s consolidated revenues and 10.5% to COSMOTE group EBITDA.
Summary Financial Results for the 9months ended September 30, 2003 and 2002
(amounts in euros '000 - US GAAP, unaudited) 9m-2003 9m-2002 % change
Total operating revenues 78,496 75,424 4.1%
Operating expenses 33,800 22,795 48.3%
EBITDA 44,696 52,629 -15.1%
EBITDA margin 56.9% 69.8%
Depreciation 13,186 10,954 20.4%
EBIT (Operating Income) 31,510 41,675 -24.4%
EBT (net income, before provision for income taxes) 30,969 32,913 -5.9%Net Income (after taxes) 22,857 24,409 -6.4%
AMC's revenues during the first nine months of 2003 were 4.1% higher compared to the previous period (9m-02) reaching 78.5 million euros. In addition we note that the company's revenue increase, as expressed in the local currency, was approximately 10% (please see Appendix IV). As mentioned before, under the current circumstances, the Albanian mobile market is considered to have entered a stability phase (since penetration is the highest from all Balkan counties, achieved in the fastest time).
AMC's EBITDA at the end of 9m-03 reached approximately 44.7 mil euros, resulting in an EBITDA margin of 56.9% still at very high levels. The Albanian company's EBITDA is adversely impacted by the M2M termination rates that started being officially charged from the beginning of 2003.