Telekom Romania turned the financial corner in 2019, with its best performance in over three years.
Results published by its parent company OTE show that full-year revenues were up by 5% to €980 million and adjusted EBITDA by over 5% to €143.7 million.
Furthermore, adjusted free cash flow rose sharply and would have been positive on an underlying basis after several years of cash generation. Although Telekom Romania lost TV subscribers in 2019 – down 8.5% during the year to 1,319,996, and shedding 33,460 in Q4 alone, its FMC customer base increased by 16.6% to 726,232.
Moreover, revenues from broadband and TV, supported by higher ARPU, continued to recover.
Meanwhile, in Greece Telekom Romania’s parent company OTE ended 2019 with 554,986 TV customers, or 2.4% more than a year earlier.
OTE Group as a whole had revenues of €3,907.6 million in 2019 (+2.9%) and adjusted EBITDA before IFRS 16 of €1,316 million (+3.6%). Its adjusted profit to owners of the parent was €410 million (+45.9%).
Commenting on OTE’s 2019 fourth quarter and full year, Michael Tsamaz, chairman & CEO, OTE said: “Our performances in the last quarter crowned a very solid 2019, fully validating the strategy we have been implementing with determination and discipline for many years. While I am pleased with the full-year top-line growth and higher profitability in Greece, and the sharp year-end improvement in Romania, it is with the progress of OTE’s transformation that I am most proud. Facing fundamental changes in our environment and our industry, we are taking bold measures to make our organization more agile, to reduce our cost base, and to create new revenue streams. The collective labor agreement signed in Greece a few days ago is an important step towards ensuring our sustainability and competitiveness to the benefit of OTE and all of our people.”
He added: “Our continuous improvement in cash flow generation provides us with the resources to invest in our customers’ needs, notably with regards to digitisation, to reward our people, and to remunerate our shareholders.”
