Colt Group S.A. announces results for the twelve months ended 31 December 2011

23 February 2012

Colt Group S.A. (London Stock Exchange: COLT) today issues its audited results for the 12 months ended 31 December 2011.

Highlights:

• Transformed our organisation structure to drive revenue through three customer-centric units
• Introduced innovative, market leading compute and data centre services for both our enterprise and indirect customers and continued to lead in pan-European Ethernet network services
• Increased our vertical sector capabilities through the acquisition of MarketPrizm
•  Full year revenue declined by 1.9% to €1,554.3m as Voice declines continued to offset growth in Data and Managed Services
  •  Data revenue growth of 0.5%. Ethernet continues to grow in excess of 10% largely offset by legacy data product declines
  • Managed Services revenue grew by 7.9% over 2010 driven largely by data centre revenue
  • Voice decline of 7.7% driven by regulatory-led reductions in termination rates. Carrier Voice returned to growth in H2 2011
• Restructuring programme largely complete and on track to deliver annualised net cost savings in line with €20m target
• EBITDA up slightly with higher margins and restructuring benefits offsetting lower revenue Capex increased by €47.7m due to continuation of investment in expanding our data centre and network footprint and capacity

Key financial information:

¹ EBITDA reflects profit for the year before net finance costs, tax, depreciation, amortisation, foreign exchange and exceptional items
² In 2011 there were no exceptional items (2010: there was an exceptional restructuring expense of €30.1m)
³ Free cash flow is net cash generated from operating activities less net cash used to purchase non-current assets and net finance costs paid
⁴ Net funds reflects cash and cash equivalents plus deposits classified as current asset investments less debt

Rakesh Bhasin, Chief Executive Officer, commented:

“2011 was a transformational year for Colt. We are pleased with the financial performance having aggressively driven forward our new organisation model, simplifying the way we do business while remaining totally focused on serving our customers. We are Europe‘s leading information delivery platform and the hard work by our team in 2011 lays a strong foundation to return to revenue growth.”

FORWARD LOOKING STATEMENTS

This report contains “forward looking statements” including statements concerning plans, future events or performance and underlying assumptions and other statements which are other than statements of historical fact. Colt Group S.A. wishes to caution readers that any such forward looking statements are not guarantees of future performance and certain important factors could in the future affect the Group’s actual results and could cause the Group’s actual results for future periods to differ materially from those expressed in any forward looking statement made by or on behalf of the Group. These include, among others, the following: (i) any adverse change in regulations and technology within the IT services and communications industries, (ii) the Group’s ability to manage its growth, (iii) the nature of the competition that the Group will encounter and wider economic conditions including economic downturns, (iv) unforeseen operational or technical problems and (v) the Group’s ability to raise capital. The Group undertakes no obligation to release publicly the results of any revision to these forward looking statements that may be made to reflect errors or circumstances that occur after the date hereof.

Click here for the complete Press Release.

Enquiries:

Investor Relations:

Martin Harrison
Email: coltinvestorrelations@colt.net
Tel: +44 (0) 20 7039 2305