May 17 (SeeNews) - Digi Communications [BSE: DIGI], majority owner of Romanian company RCS&RDS, turned a 14 million euro ($17 million) profit in the first quarter of 2021, compared to a 56 million euro net loss in the same period last year.
Total revenues rose 8.6% on the year in the period under review, reaching 340 million euro, Digi said in a preliminary financial statement filed with the Bucharest Stock Exchange, BVB, on Friday.
Total operating expenses for the first three months of 2021 increased to 30.7.6 million euro, compared to 277.9 million euro in the same period of 2020, while net finance costs decreased to 26 million euro, from 98 million euro.
Adjusted earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortization (EBITDA) rose 6.8% on the year to 122.5 million euro at the end of the first quarter.
"We continue to adapt in these challenging times in order to address market readjustments due to the pandemic crisis, consumer requirements changes, regulatory uncertainty and lack of social and economic predictability," Digi Communications CEO Serghei Bulgac said in a separate press release.
Romania was leader among the markets of the group, contributing 61% to the company's overall revenues during January-March 2021, followed by Spain (23%), Hungary (14%) and Italy (2%).
RCS&RDS, founded by Romanian businessman Zoltan Teszari, comprises two companies - Romanian Cable Systems (RCS) founded in 1994, and Romanian Data Systems (RDS) founded in 1998. Its parent company, Cable Communication Systems, now Digi Communications N.V., indirectly operates telecommunications groups in Hungary, Spain and Italy through RCS&RDS.
Digi's net profit decreased to 16.35 million euro ($19.87) in 2020, from 40.58 million euro achieved in the previous year.
Digi is a member of the BVB's blue-chip BET and BET-TR indices.
Its shares traded 0.54% lower at 36.5 lei ($8.8/7.2 euro) on the BVB as at 1524 CET on Monday.
($= 0.8228 euro)