Revenues down at Eircom as new CFO and CIO appointed

Revenues at Eircom fell by 3 per cent in the nine months to the end of March to €940 million, while earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortisation (Ebitda) were down 1 per cent to €346 million.

The telecommunications group said that on a quarterly basis, revenues declined by 1 per cent to €311 million while Ebitda was up 8 per cent to €120 million.

Eircom, which announced its latest results on Monday, also said it was appointing Huib Costermans as its new chief financial officer and Erik Slooten as chief information officer. Both will take up their roles in August.

Operating costs declined by €12 million or 6 per cent on a quarterly basis to €191 million and by 5 per cent or €30 million to €594 million for the nine months ending March 31st, 2015.

Fixed-line revenues totalled €235 million for the quarter, down 3 per cent, and €710 million, down 4 per cent, for the nine months under review. The decline in fixed-line revenue was partially offset by operating cost savings, the group said. Fixed-line Ebitda for the quarter and nine months totalled €101 million (down 2 per cent) and €310 million (down 5 per cent) respectively.

Fixed-line access net losses for the quarter and nine months ending March 31st were 22,000 and 44,000 respectively. Retail losses were 21,000 and 51,000.

Eircom said it added a further 49,000 broadband customers in the nine months to the end of March giving it a total subscriber base of 766,000. The retail broadband base was 456,000 at the end of March 2015, declining by 4,000 in the quarter and remaining broadly flat since the end of June as a result of price changes announced during the quarter.

Broadband lines in Eircom’s Wholesale business rose by by 22,000 during the quarter and 58,000 compared to the same period a year earlier to a total of 310,000 lines.

At the end of March, the company had 242,000 customers using its fibre-based high-speed broadband services, representing over 21 per cent penetration of premises passed.

The group said 22 per cent of its customers now have a TV/mobile bundle. IN addition, it said it now has 37,000 television customers.

Eircom, which owns Meteor, said mobile Ebitda for the quarter and nine month period under review rose by €19 million (up 116 per cent) and €36 million (up 59 per cent) respectively.

Mobile revenue rose by 5 per cent to €87 million over the quarter while the ebitda margin was 22 per cent, the highest it has been in four and a half years. Mobile revenue for the nine months to the end of March totalled €265 million up €2 million versus the same period a year earlier.

The group said it added 30,000 mobile subscribers in the nine months to the end of March to give it a total mobile base of 1,085,000 customers. Eircom said it added 42,000 post-paid customers and that post-paid subscribers account for 43 per cent of its overall customer base, up from 39 per cent compared to the end of March 2014.

Eircom’s prepaid customer base decreased by 12,000 to 601,000 in the last quarter, it added.

The group said it now has more than 350,000 4G customers.