TMCnet News
Telenor's Bulgarian unit posts 8% y/y drop in Q2 EBITDA, revenue falls 7.6% y/y [IntelliNews - Weekly Reports](IntelliNews - Weekly Reports Via Acquire Media NewsEdge) Globul, the second-largest mobile operator in Bulgaria, said its EBITDA (a key performance measure for telecoms) fell 8% y/y to BGN 61.8mn (EUR 31.6mn) in the second quarter of 2014 mainly due to one-time discounts the company benefited from in the same period last year. Excluding one-off items last year, EBITDA was 2.3% higher in Q2 2014 thanks to lower marketing, sales and administrative costs. The EBITDA margin ticked down by 0.2pps y/y to 39.7% in Q2. Excluding one-off items last year, the EBITDA margin increased by 6pps. Globul's revenue fell 7.6% y/y to BGN 155.6mn in Q2 due to the regulatory reduction in mobile termination rates (MTR) and lower handset sales. Its services revenue alone fell 5.5% y/y and ARPU in local currency decreased by 6% y/y to BGN 11. Globul's active customer base grew 2% y/y to more than 4 million in Q2, with post-paid subscriptions up 3.4% y/y to 2.8 million and pre-paid clients down 1.1% y/y. For the first half of 2014, Globul reported EBITDA of BGN 117.5mn, down 1% y/y, and revenue of BGN 302.9mn, down 7.5% y/y. Norway's Telenor acquired Globul in August 2013 for EUR 717mn. The transaction also included Germanos Bulgaria - a telecom retailer operationally integrated with Globul. The parent company announced earlier this month that it has completed the merger of its telecom and retail units in Bulgaria. (c) 2014 Emerging Markets Direct Media Holdings LLC Provided by SyndiGate Media Inc. (Syndigate.info). |