SLT Group records 5% growth in 1Q
Sri Lanka Telecom PLC (SLT) released the financial performance of its
Group and Company for the 1Q, 2013 recently. The group has recorded a
Rs.14.45 billion revenue, with 5% year-on-year growth during the
quarter. Strategic initiatives particularly in the mobile sector
together with the expansion of broadband and data services through i-Sri
Lanka program have complemented the growth of group revenue. During the
quarter under review, the group reported a Net Profit Before Tax (NPBT)
of Rs. 2.03 billion and Net Profit After Tax (NPAT) of Rs. 1.60 billion.
This is an impressive growth of 90% and 226% compared to that of the
previous year, which was negatively impacted by Rs. 1.4 billion foreign
currency conversion loss. Compared to previous quarter the improvement
of Group NPBT and NPAT was 48% and 83%.
Increase in operating costs mainly driven by inflationary factors,
has diluted the group EBITDA margin to 32% from 36% during the
corresponding period in the previous year.In line with increased
profits, Group annualised Earnings Per Share (EPS) has been increased
from Rs.1.09 in first quarter 2012 to Rs.3.55 during the quarter under
review.
At the Company level, Rs. 8.70 billion revenue was reported with a
marginal growth of 1% compared to the corresponding quarter of the
previous year. Rapid increase of operating costs has eroded Net Profit
Before Tax and Net Profit After Tax of the quarter under review by 46%
and 48% to Rs. 1.06 billion and Rs. 0.78 billion.SLT Group CEO Lalith de
Silva stressed the importance of adopting a synergetic approach within
the group to facilitate rapid growth in terms of financials and to
provide an enhanced service experience to the customers.
In the face of intense competition, Mobitel was able to report a
healthy performance recording a growth in subscribers and revenue.
Revenue for the first quarter of 2013 grew by 10% to Rs 6.6 billion
compared to the corresponding quarter of the previous year. Revenue
growth was duly supported by timely investments in network
infrastructure for capacity building and coverage expansion. This in
turn resulted in an increase in customer base by 14% in comparison to
the first quarter of previous year.
This growth was achieved despite the Sri Lankan mobile market
reaching saturation by end of 2012 according TRCSL sources. Mobitel
reported improvement in all key profitability indicators EBITDA, EBIT
and NPAT during the first quarter of 2013 compared to corresponding
period of previous year. The growth achieved in overall revenue which
increased by Rs 0.58 billion continues to be reflected across
profitability indicators with EBITDA and EBIT growing by 3% and 5%. |