A new cycle begins
Friday, March 28, 2008
The 12 items on the agenda of the Annual General Meeting have been approved by the shareholders, most votings with percentages above 95%. Considering the approval of the proposed dividend, which shall be paid in April, when the share buyback programme will be over in a few months’ time, PT’s Board of Directors will then be able to claim that it met the commitments assumed with the shareholders after the end of the public tender offer.
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"The year of 2007 has turned
another page in PT’s life with
the end of the PTO cycle”, said
the Chairman | “Convergence, segmentation, employee rejuvenation, culture of proximity to the customer, reinforcement of the international presence” are the great vectors announced for a new cycle, which is about to begin in Portugal Telecom. The announcement was made by Henrique Granadeiro, PT Group’s Chairman, at the Annual General Meeting of Shareholders held today, in Lisbon. As the 12 items on the agenda were presented and discussed, the approval was widely consensual.
Before initiating the discussion and deliberation of the items on the agenda of the meeting, Henrique Granadeiro stated that “the year of 2007 has turned a page in PT’s life, with the end of the PTO cycle”. The Chairman of the Group remembered the General Meeting of Shareholders held on 2nd March 2007 for having been one of “most attended meetings in PT’s history as 66% of the shareholders were present” and for representing the moment of rejection of Sonaecom’s offer with a 52% majority. “PT thus ceased to be strongly conditioned in its management and became unconstrained to take fundamental measures – natural in a context of change within the sector - to prepare this company for the future in the convergence era, at a time when all the great European players were already walking decidedly in this direction”, said Henrique Granadeiro.
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Zeinal Bava and Henrique Granadeiro |
PT Multimedia’s spin-off is concluded, constituting the “great liberalizing act in the telecommunications sector”, according to Henrique Granadeiro. Simultaneously, considering the approval of the dividend that shall be paid to the shareholders in April, PT will have fulfilled 86% of the commitments assumed before the shareholders, at the end of the PTO, “in the predicted time frame and without having jeopardized the financial solidity of this company or in any way compromising its investment capacity”. This percentage will increase to 91% when the share buyback programme is concluded in a few months’ time. “With the distribution of the 2008 dividend the programme proposed to the shareholders and approved by them at the April 2007 General Meeting will be fully concluded”, says the Group’s Chairman.
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Mobile business performance contributes
significantly to the revenue increase |
As for the 2007 results, Henrique Granadeiro emphasized “the good level of growth recorded, in spite of the competitive pressure increase in every business”. The consolidated revenues have increased by 6.6%, amounting to Euro 6,148 million.
This year’s performance, compared with last year, was driven mainly by the Group’s mobile business units performance:
• Vivo’s revenues grew by 17%, as the result of continued customer base and ARPU growth as well as the end of the Bill & Keep interconnection system;
• TMN’s revenues grew by 2.7% in 2007, underpinned by customer base growth, mostly in the postpaid segment and mobile Internet.
At wireline level, revenues decreased by 5.3%, due to the impact of continued line loss and pricing pressure on retail revenues, driven by an aggressive competitive environment, in spite of the revenue increase in wholesale and business solutions.
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PT’s performance is among the four best in
Europe when compared with similar companies |
Henrique Granadeiro also informed that revenue growth in Other Businesses was explained essentially by the 12 month long consolidation of the acquired mobile operator in Namíbia - MTC - in August 2006, and also due to revenue growth in the other wholly consolidated subsidiaries. International assets represented, at the end of 2007, 45% of PT Group’s consolidated revenues.
EBITDA increased by 5.3%. However, if extraordinary items are excluded, recurring growth would have been 6.7%. Net income amounted to Euro 742 million, a 14% decrease compared to 2006. However, if extraordinary items are also excluded, net income would have shown an expressive 26% growth.
As for PT Group’s net debt, it increased to Euro 4.382 million, explained by the share buyback program still under execution. Significant progress has been made to cover pension fund obligations with an after-tax unfunded gap reduction amounting to Euro 260 million. The unfunded obligations totalled Euro 960 million compared to a total of Euro 1,911 million at the end of 2005.
At the final moments of his speech, Henrique Granadeiro stated that “PT’s performance in the stock market was positive in the exercise that finished on 31st December 2007, with a share capital growth of circa 12%, together with an aggressive shareholder remuneration policy”. The Group’s Chairman emphasized that PT’s performance “is among the four best in the group of European telecom operators, and is one of the three best of the PSI20 as of today”.
Among the 12 items submitted for discussion and approval to the shareholders there are the management report, balance sheet, and accounts for the year of 2007, the net income application proposal, the share capital reduction, the ratification of the appointment of the new members of the Board of Directors, among others. It should be highlighted the end of an admittedly positive management period that announces changes for the following cycle.
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