A1 Telekom Austria Group, in which the Mexican billionaire Carlos Slim’s América Móvil holds a majority stake, continued to post less profit in Q3 2018 following a brand value write-down as a result of the group-wide rebranding.
Without this effect, net income would have been unchanged, the company announced in its quarterly figures report.
“Our growth strategy continues to be successful, the operating performance in the first three quarters was solid,” said Thomas Arnoldner, CEO of A1 Telekom Austria Group. Revenues increased from January to September 2018 by 1.3% (pro forma basis) and by 2.8% excluding foreign exchange and one-off effects.
EBITDA, on a pro forma basis decreased, by 2.1%. Taking into account foreign exchange, restructuring and one-off effects, EBITDA increased by 2.4%.
“As expected, brand value amortisation due to the group-wide rebranding had a negative impact of around €190 million on the net result this year, without which we were able to achieve a stable development,” said Arnoldner.
In the third quarter, A1 saw revenue growth of 1.4% (on a pro forma basis). EBITDA fell by 4.9% on a pro forma basis, excluding restructuring effects the development was flat at 0.3%.
“We are thus well placed to position our group for the digital future in a highly competitive environment. The group-wide roll-out of the A1 brand and thus the implementation of the single-brand-strategy is progressing rapidly and supports our position as a strong international group that is evolving from a convergent telco to a provider of advanced IT, IoT, cloud and content solutions,” said Arnoldner.
