October 27 (SeeNews) - Croatia's biggest telecommunication services provider, Hrvatski Telekom [ZSE:HT], said on Wednesday its consolidated net profit for the first nine months of this year dropped 17.6% to 460 million kuna ($71 million/61 million euro) as higher revenue and lower tax expenditure failed to offset amortisation costs incurred on past investments.
“Investments in the past six years exceeded 10 billion kuna, as Hrvatski Telekom (HT) invested more than the rest of the market. Moreover, on quarterly basis the amortisation costs declined, while net profit was 2.5 times higher than in the previous quarter, or up by 295 million kuna,” HT said in a filing to the Zagreb bourse.
The company's consolidated revenue rose 0.6% on the year to 34 billion kuna in January-September.
EBITDA after lease payments (EBITDA AL) went up 6.4% on the year to 132 million kuna in the nine months through September, driven by a 6.3% growth of the HT group in Croatia and a 8.3% growth of its unit in Montenegro, Crnogorski Telekom.
Excluding Optima Telekom's contribution in Q3 2020 of 28 million kuna, adjusted EBITDA AL increased by 160 million kuna or 7.9%.
On July 9, Dutch-based multi-play and media provider United Group signed a deal with Hrvatski Telekom and Zagrebacka Banka to acquire a 54.31% stake in Optima Telekom for an undisclosed sum. The closing of the deal depends on an expected change in Croatia’s Electronic Media Act, which now prohibits vertical integration between pay-TV broadcasters and distributors. The deal is also conditional upon approval by relevant competition authorities.
“Although the environment remains challenging, we improved our 2021 outlook (including Optima Telekom until end-June 2021), and expect a low-single digit decrease in revenue, and a mid-single digit increase in EBITDA AL compared to 2020,” HT said.
Its CAPEX expectations for this year are at around 1.6 billion kuna.
“In terms of regional expansion, we continue monitoring and evaluating potential acquisition opportunities,” the statement added.
Deutsche Telekom Europe owns 52.17% of HT.
HT's shares traded at 185.40 kuna on Wednesday morning on the Zagreb bourse, unchanged compared to the closing price on Tuesday.
(1 euro=7.516 Croatian kuna)