25 July 2013

Colt Group S.A. (London Stock Exchange: COLT) issued today the results for the six months ended 30 June 2013.

Highlights of first half of 2013:

• Overall Group revenue declined by 1.1% in the face of significant regulatory driven Voice price declines as well as adverse foreign currency impact resulting from a weakening Sterling against the Euro. Non Voice revenue grew by 3.1% on a constant currency basis
• Data revenue continued its transformation with growth in newer technologies and managed network services largely offset by churn in legacy products. Data revenue as a whole grew by 0.7% in H1 2013 (1.8% on a constant currency basis
• Managed Services revenue grew by 7.1% (8.3% on a constant currency basis) including Data Centre Services revenue growth of 10.7%
• Voice revenue declined by €19.0m (6.4%) principally due to regulatory driven price declines.
• EBITDA amounted to €158.0m (20.0% margin). The decline in overall EBITDA from H1 2012 of €3.8m related to increased investment in recent acquisitions and strategic investments in product development
• In the period we launched our enterprise grade cloud services across both direct and indirect channels in Europe and Asia.

Key information:

¹  VoIP revenue was reclassed from Data revenue to Voice revenue at the beginning of  2013. The 2012 numbers have been restated to ensure comparability
² EBITDA reflects profit before net finance costs, tax, depreciation, amortisation, foreign exchange and exceptional items
³ Free cash flow is net cash generated from operating activities less net cash used to purchase non-current assets and net finance costs paid
⁴ Net funds reflects cash and cash equivalents plus deposits classified as current asset investments
 

Rakesh Bhasin, Chief Executive Officer, commented:

“While the first half results reflect the impact of a stubbornly challenging economic climate and negative regulatory pressure on Voice revenue, our business continues its transformation in line with our strategic direction. Growth in key strategic areas is occurring in managed networking and IT services and data centre related revenue, however, this is overshadowed by foreign currency movements, regulatory voice pricing and churn of legacy Data products. Our products and services in our strategic areas are winning recognition in the market and our pipeline is improving. Our continued investment in strategic areas should suppress near term margin expansion but we remain optimistic that the business will grow full year revenue on a constant currency basis.”

To read the full press release click here


FORWARD LOOKING STATEMENTS

This report contains ‘forward looking statements’ including statements concerning plans, future events or performance and underlying assumptions and other statements which are other than statements of historical fact. Colt Group S.A., ‘the Group’, wishes to caution readers that any such forward looking statements are not guarantees of future performance and certain important factors could in the future affect the Group’s actual results and could cause the Group’s actual results for future periods to differ materially from those expressed in any forward looking statement made by or on behalf of the Group. These include, among others, the following: (i) any adverse change in regulations and technology within the IT services and communications industries, (ii) the Group’s ability to manage its growth, (iii) the nature of the competition that the Group will encounter and wider economic conditions including economic downturns, (iv) unforeseen operational or technical problems and (v) the Group’s ability to raise capital. The Group undertakes no obligation to release publicly the results of any revision to these forward looking statements that may be made to reflect errors or circumstances that occur after the date hereof.
 

Enquiries:

Investor Relations:
Morten Singleton
DDI: +44 (0) 20 7863 5314
Mobile: +44 7535 445159
Email: [email protected]

Press:
Helen Toft
DDI: +44 20 7039 2420
Mobile: +44 7855 301078
Email: [email protected]