By Margit Feher
BUDAPEST--Third-quarter net profit of Hungary's largest
telecommunications company by market share Magyar Telekom Nyrt.
(MTELEKOM.BU) met analysts' expectations mostly as a result of
lower foreign-exchange losses, the company said in a filing with
the Budapest Stock Exchange on Thursday.
MAIN FACTS:
- The company made a net profit of 10.66 billion forints ($43.2
million) in the third quarter of 2014, meeting analysts' forecast
in a Portfolio.hu poll for HUF10.6 billion, and up 15% from a net
profit of HUF9.31 billion a year earlier. The third-quarter net
profit was mostly the result of lower foreign-exchange losses.
- Net financial expenses declined from HUF9.2 billion to HUF6.6
billion as a result of the Hungarian forint remaining broadly
stable against the euro during the July-September period whereas it
weakened by 1.1% against the euro over the same period of last
year.
- Net profit translated into per-share earnings of HUF10.23,
compared with HUF8.93 a year earlier.
- Ebitda, a key indicator of business performance for
telecommunications companies, was HUF49.22 billion from a year
earlier, exceeding analysts' forecast for HUF48.7 billion. It was
down 5.2% from HUF51.93 billion on the year, owing primarily to
higher bad debt and severance expenses.
- Third-quarter revenue fell by a moderate 0.5% to HUF157.5
billion from a year earlier and was above the HUF156.2 billion
expected by analysts. The decline in voice and system integration
and information technology revenues was mitigated by a combination
of increased mobile internet and television services revenues and
higher mobile equipment sales.
- The company left its full-year revenue, Ebitda and
capital-expenditure guidance unchanged. It continues to forecast a
revenue drop of up to 3% this year from last year's HUF637.5
billion on lower growth in retail energy and equipment sales. It
continues to anticipate an Ebitda fall of no more than 3% this year
from last year's HUF179.5 billion.
- CFO Janos Szabo will hold an earnings news briefing at 0730
GMT Thursday.
- Deutsche Telekom AG (DTE.XE) holds a 59.3% stake in Magyar
Telekom.
- Magyar Telekom's shares closed up HUF6, or 1.8%, at HUF348 on
Wednesday.
Write to Margit Feher at margit.feher@wsj.com
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