Content protection group Kudelski has been hit by a falling US Dollar and Euro exchange rates against the Swiss Franc. The currency issues were compounded by a sharp decline in digital TV revenues, which fell from SFr92.1 million (€80.9 million) to SFr257.6 million.
The company says that compared to the first half of 2010 declining exchange rates impacted to the tune of SFr67 million on group revenues and SFr27.4 million.
At the same time total group revenues in constant currency declined by 8.5%, while reported total revenues fell by 21.9% to SFr392.2 million. Kudelski says it expects the first half loss of SFr3.1 million to turn positive when full year results are announced.
The currency issues had a particularly hard effect on digital TV operations, much of which are based in Switzerland and are denominated in Swiss Francs.
Revenues in the first half were 13% lower, due in part to last year’s one-off revenue growth on the back of Virgin’s smart card replacement programme. Consequently the number of smart cards delivered declined by 6.5 million units to 13.9 million.
