T-HT Group: net profit up 21.6%, operating profit down 1.1%

T-HT Group achieved a net profit of 1.33 billion kuna in the first half of the year, which represents an increase of 21.6 percent compared to the same period last year; however, at the same time, operating profit decreased by 1.1 percent to 1.28 billion kuna, T-HT reported today.

The decrease in operating profit is explained by T-HT as being due to an increase in service costs, while the increase in net profit, they state, resulted from the merger of the associated company HT Mobile Communications d.o.o. Mostar with the company Hrvatska telekomunikacija d.o.o. Mostar at the beginning of January this year. This, among other things, eliminated certain uncertainties regarding the GSM (mobile) license, and the Group subsequently recognized revenue of 261 million kuna, as stated in the press release on the semi-annual business results. The total revenue of T-HT Group in the first half of this year amounted to 4.226 billion kuna, which is 2.1 percent higher than in the same period last year, as noted in the press release, with the clarification that these are unaudited but reviewed consolidated financial statements.

This increase primarily stems from an 8 percent growth in mobile telephony revenue and a 36.8 percent increase in internet services, T-HT emphasizes, without specifying the exact amounts of revenue generated from mobile telephony and internet services. T-HT states that earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortization (EBITDA) before special effects, as well as EBITDA after special effects, decreased by 1.4 percent and 1.2 percent, respectively, and that both indicators stand at 1.97 billion kuna.

In the press release regarding business results, T-HT notes that due to changes in accounting policies, the Group’s accounts for 2006 have been corrected. All financial data for the Group in the first half of this year are therefore presented based on this correction, which will, as they state, ‘in some respects differ from the financial data previously published by the Group.’

The report also states that the mobile telecommunications subsidiary T-Mobile Croatia has more than 2.22 million users, thus maintaining its leading market share. For T-Com, or the fixed telephony and Internet segment, they only state that it has about 275 thousand MAXadsla connections (broadband access) and more than 21 thousand MAXtv users (next-generation interactive digital television). As a reason for not disclosing data on revenue and the number of users of fixed telephony, nor for comparing with last year’s first half, T-HT cites ‘obligations regarding the upcoming IPO’ or initial public offering of shares expected in October this year. The press release on the semi-annual results assesses that “T-HT Group, as the leading provider of telecommunications services in the Croatian market, continues the trend of successful business operations.” (Hina)