Portugal Telecom registered, between January and September 2004, a net result of Euro 318.6 million (ME), a value which is in accordance with the estimates forecasted by analysts.
Operational gains rose 5.8% to Euro 4,66 billion, whilst the EBITDA (results before interest, taxes, amortization and depreciation) registered a slight drop of 1.6% to Euro 1,74 million. Excluding costs deriving from a reduction of a permanent staff programme, gains would attain 503 ME.
Net debt situated at Euro 3.887 million, a value which already includes the Euro 300 million pertaining to an extraordinary contribution to finance health care after retirement.
At the end of the last quarter, the number of broadband clients (ADSL and NetCabo), stood at 889 thousand.
Fixed Network: 167 thousand new ADSL clients
The EBITDA of PT Comunicações rose 4.4% to Euro 728.1 million due to an 8.4% reduction in operational costs. The EBITDA margin went from 40.3% to 43.5%. Costs relative to staff lowered 2.3% and the costs relative to retirement benefits dropped 10.7%.
The total of accesses in the fixed network rose 26 thousand in the third quarter supported by the high level of ADSL net additions in retail, that totalled 47 thousand during said period. Throughout the first nine months of the year, PTC obtained 167 thousand new retail clients in ADSL, increasing its client base to 547 thousand.
TMN: The success of 3G and UZO reflected in an increase in clients
In the first nine months of the year, TMN gathered 162 thousand new clients, of which most (107 thousand) were conquered in the third quarter, reflecting the success of the expansion of the 3G network and launch of the UZO brand. In September, the TMN client base stood at 5,215 million, 5.5% more that in the same period in the previous year.
In the third quarter of 2005 the proceeds of data services represented 11.6% of the service proceeds, an improvement of 1.7 percentage points in relation to the same period in the previous year, due to the increase in data service proceeds other than the SMS, that already represent 21.6% of the total proceeds of data services.
Vivo: Operational gains rise 4.1%
The Vivo operational gains rose 4.1% in the third quarter of 2005 in relation to the same period in the previous year, to Brazilian Real 3,020 million, reflecting the increase of 40.1% of the sales proceeds of equipment, related to the increase in sales of state-of-the-art equipment during the quarter.
At the end of September, Vivo held 28,8 million clients, a 17% increase related to the same period in the previous year, placing its market share at 45.9% in the operations area and 36.1% in the whole of Brazil. The data proceeds represented 6.2% of the service data in which approximately 37% were generated via data service proceeds other than SMS.
PT Multimedia: Net results rises 62.5% to Euro 95.5 million
The PT Multimédia net results reached, in the first nine months of 2005 Euro 95.5 million, 65.2% over on the same period on the previous year. The EBITDA attained Euro 142.6 million, a 6.7% increase on the first nine months of 2004 and an equivalent to an EBITDA margin of 30.7%.
The Funtastic Life digital service has registered a good adhesion, counting on 123 thousand clients at the end of September 2005. PT Multimedia continues to endeavour efforts in the expansion of the broadband Internet service seeking to improve service to these clients. Within this scope one must refer the availability for broadband clients, in partnership with SAPO, of the Sapo Messenger service which allows voice PC2PC communication over IP (VoIP) and video. Note that at the end of September there were 341 thousand broadband clients via cable. The average proceeds per client (ARPU) of TV activity by subscription and Broadband Internet registered Euro 27,84, an increase of 10,3% in comparison to the first nine months of 2004, due to large Internet and Broadband service penetration, the rise in price of the base service of TV via subscription and the adjustment of the client base.
PT and PT Multimedia reinforce dividend policy
Reinforcing the commitment of continuing to attractively remunerate its shareholders, the Portugal Telecom Executive Committee announced that it would propose the approval of a dividend distribution relative to the year of 2005 in the value of 38,5 cents per share, representing a 10% increase in comparison to the dividend distributed in the previous year.
PT Multimedia will propose to the Annual Shareholders’ General Meeting a dividend distribution of 27,5 cents per share. A 10% increase on the 25-cent dividend per share paid relatively to the year of 2004.
Even with these proposals of dividend distribution Portugal Telecom maintains a flexible structure to continue investing in its key markets and to maintain its competitive position.
2005 First Nine Month Results
Portugal Telecom Announces Dividend Proposal for 2005