Brussels, 28 April 2011 – Today, Mobistar publishes its results for the first quarter of 2011. Mobistar is pursuing its convergence strategy. The number of new customers is rising in every segment, although results are heavily affected by the decreases in MTR in August 2010 and January 2011, and by the reduction in roaming tariffs in July 2010. The impact of regulation on the Mobistar group’s results in the first quarter of 2011 was 26.8 million euros on turnover and 14.2 millions euros on EBITDA.
Key facts:
Mobistar group’s consolidated turnover for the first quarter of 2011 was 400.9 million euros, compared with 393.6 million euros a year earlier, representing an increase of 1.9 % (-3.1 % excl. MES). Without the impact of regulation, Mobistar group’s consolidated turnover would have increased by 9.3 % (+4 % excl. MES).
Partly under the impact of regulatory pressure, Mobistar group realized a decrease in the EBITDA margin on service revenues, which was 33.9 % at the end of the first quarter of 2011, compared with 37.8 % a year earlier. On 31 March 2011, EBITDA was 125.2 million euros, representing a decline of 9.3 % (-12.5 % excl. MES), compared with 138.1 million euros at the end of March 2010. Without the impact of regulation, EBITDA would have been 139.4 million euros (135 million euros excl. MES), representing an increase of 1 % (-2.5 % excl. MES).
Mobistar group’s consolidated net result fell by 22.5 % (-23.5 % excl. MES) at 53.1 million euros at the end of March 2011, compared with 68.5 million euros a year earlier. This fall in net profit can be explained by the decline in EBITDA and higher financial costs associated with the new long-term credit facility. On the other hand, it should be noted that the net result for the first quarter of 2010 was affected by an exceptional reduction in taxes.
Mobistar group investments came to 31.9 million euros in the first quarter of 2011, representing 8.6 % of service revenues.
Mobistar group had 4,075,647 active mobile telephony customers at the end of the first quarter of 2011, representing an increase of 5 % compared with 3,881,097 active customers a year earlier.
At the end of March 2011, Mobistar S.A. recorded 116,237 mobile Internet customers, which is 27,634 more than the 88,603 customers a year earlier, representing an increase of 31.2 %.
Mobistar S.A. had 3,512,048 active mobile telephony customers at the end of the first quarter of 2011, of whom 2,245,109 were subscribers, compared with 2,100,459 a year earlier. As a consequence, the share of postpaid customers in the total customer base reached 63.9 %.
At the end of the first quarter of 2011, Mobistar S.A. recorded 66,171 ADSL customers, compared with 42,421 at the end of March 2010, representing an increase of 56 %.
At the end of March 2011, Mobistar S.A. had 16,883 ‘Starpack’ customers (combined offer including TV) installed and activated.
The number of active machine-to-machine cards was 229,760 at the end of the first quarter of 2011, compared with 137,725 cards a year earlier, representing growth of 66.8 %.
Mobistar S.A. had 198,380 active retail fixed telephone lines at the end of the first quarter of 2011, representing an increase of 26.3 % compared with the previous year.
The average revenue per user (ARPU) of Mobistar S.A. was 30.54 euros at the end of March 2011, compared with 31.86 euros a year earlier, representing a decline of 4.14 %, attributable mainly to the regulatory impact.