Colt Group S.A. (London Stock Exchange: COLT) issued today the results for the six months ended 30 June 2012.
Highlights of first half 2012:
- Overall Group revenue grew by 4.1% (2.6% at constant currency). Growth occurred across all major product categories
- Data revenue growth of 1.8% reflects the continued take-up of Ethernet services (12.8% growth) more than compensating for the decline in legacy bandwidth services
- Managed Services revenue grew by 15.4% including Data Centre Services revenue growth of €6.2m (46.3%)
- Voice revenue grew by 4.1% with growth in Carrier Voice (38.1%) exceeding the decline in Corporate and Reseller Voice (11.7%)
- EBITDA was €161.8m, with gross profit improvement offset by operating costs from investment in the business. EBITDA benefited from a reduction of provisions for bad debt and voice termination costs totalling €10.0m
- Capital expenditure was in line with H1 2011 with programmes focused on network expansion, data centre expansion and product and services development.
Key information:
| Six months to 30 June | |||
| € millions | 2012 Unaudited | 2011 Unaudited | Movement |
| Total revenue | 797.9 | 766.2 | 4.1% |
| Data revenue | 407.7 | 400.6 | 1.8% |
| Managed Services revenue | 99.9 | 86.6 | 15.4% |
| Voice revenue | 290.3 | 279.0 | 4.1% |
| EBITDA1 | 161.8 | 157.2 | 2.9% |
| Profit before tax | 33.2 | 21.8 | 52.3% |
| Free cash outflow2 | (57.8) | (68.8) | 16.0% |
| Capital expenditure | 147.4 | 152.6 | (3.4%) |
| Net funds3 | 288.5 | 230.6 | 25.1% |
1 EBITDA is earnings before net finance costs, tax, depreciation, amortisation, foreign exchange and exceptional items 2 Free cash flow is net cash generated from operating activities less net cash used to purchase non-current assets and net finance costs paid 3 Net Funds includes deposits classified as current asset investments
Rakesh Bhasin , Chief Executive Officer, commented :
“During the first half of 2012 we continued to execute on our strategy to deliver the information delivery platform. Despite challenging economic conditions we made good progress in H1 and are targeting growth for the second half of the year. Our products and services are gaining traction in the market and our pipeline is improving in both quality and quantity. We continue to invest in our products, services and infrastructure to support future 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., ‘the Group’, 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 to view the complete Press Release.
Enquiries: Investor Relations: Morten Singleton DDI: +44 (0) 20 7863 5314 Email: ColtInvestorRelations@colt.net or morten.singleton@colt.net
Press: Helen Toft DDI: +44 (0) 20 7039 2420 Mobile: +44 (0) 7855 301078 Email: helen.toft@colt.net
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