Telecom posts earnings of $1.157 billion

Second largest mobile telco now has 1.6 million customers; broadband market share is 50 percent. UPDATE: 4G/LTE trial and Telecom staffing reductions

Update 2pm:

4G/ LTE

Nick Olson, CFO of Telecom, confirmed that equipment for a 4G/ LTE trial later this year was included in the $392 million continuing CAPEX figure in the report.

But there has been no spending for a nationwide roll out for the service, which puts doubts on whether the service will be available nationally next year.

Telecom staff

At Telecom's half year report in February, then CEO Paul Reynolds said a major focus for the coming months would be cutting costs at the telco - including reducing staff numbers.

Telecom says this year its headcount is 5 percent less than the previous year. Quin declined to comment on labour forecasts for 2013.

Telecom shares opened today at $2.755, it has dropped 8.53 percent and is now trading at $2.520.


Original story:

Telecom reported a net profit of $1.157 billion dollars in an announcement to the New Zealand Stock Exchange this morning.

Total revenues were $4.5 billion, 9 percent less than the figure posted last year, but Telecom says the results include five months of trading before its demerger from Chorus, which makes year on year comparisons “complex”.

“When these declines are ring-fenced the New Zealand business revenues fell around 2 percent for the year. Core business such as domestic fixed line access, calling and data continue to decline and are partially offset by growth in mobile and broadband,” says Chris Quin, acting Telecom CEO.

“In addition, the decline in revenue has been offset by reductions in operating expenses, which fell by more than 12 percent compared to the prior year.”


(photo credit: Paul Brislen)

According to the results Telecom has cut expenses by around $500 million from the previous year.

Following the shutting down of the CDMA network in July, Quin says Telecom’s customer base “reset” to 1.6 million. At its half-year report in February Telecom said there were 600,000 CDMA customers, Quin says the average revenue per connection per month for these connections was around $1.50.

Around 63,000 new customers have moved onto Telecom’s XT network in the last year, he adds.

According to Telecom its broadband marketshare is now 50 percent, down 3 percent from the previous year. Quin says broadband revenues rose 4 percent to $333 million and 9000 new connections were made this year, an increase of 2000 connections since the half year report in February.

Quin’s own division, Gen-i, secured or extended contracts worth $734 million with a services margin of 9 percent.

"This year has been mainly focused on improving the quality of the contracts. This year saw a 5 percent profitability growth, 1 percent revenue growth," says Quin.


Telecom New Zealand 2012 financial year results:

	REPORTED FY12	ADJUSTED FY12	ADJUSTED H2 FY12
EBITDA - continuing	$1.079 billion	$1.048 billion	$560 million
EBITDA - discontinued	$1.103 billion	$321 million	0
Total EBITDA	$2,182 billion	$1,369 billion	$560 million
Net earnings	$1,157 billion	$422 million	$182 million
Total CapEx	$528 million	$528 million	$203 million

2011 results:

Adjusted EBITDA $1.8 billion
Adjusted free cash flow $887 million
CapEx $914 million