Increase in operating costs mainly driven by inflationary factors, has diluted the group EBITDA margin to 32% from 36% during the corresponding period in the previous year.In line with increased profits, Group annualised Earnings Per Share (EPS) has been increased from Rs.1.09 in first quarter 2012 to Rs.3.55 during the quarter under review.
At the Company level, Rs. 8.70 billion revenue was reported with a marginal growth of 1% compared to the corresponding quarter of the previous year. Rapid increase of operating costs has eroded Net Profit Before Tax and Net Profit After Tax of the quarter under review by 46% and 48% to Rs. 1.06 billion and Rs. 0.78 billion.SLT Group CEO Lalith de Silva stressed the importance of adopting a synergetic approach within the group to facilitate rapid growth in terms of financials and to provide an enhanced service experience to the customers.
In the face of intense competition, Mobitel was able to report a healthy performance recording a growth in subscribers and revenue. Revenue for the first quarter of 2013 grew by 10% to Rs 6.6 billion compared to the corresponding quarter of the previous year. Revenue growth was duly supported by timely investments in network infrastructure for capacity building and coverage expansion. This in turn resulted in an increase in customer base by 14% in comparison to the first quarter of previous year.
This growth was achieved despite the Sri Lankan mobile market reaching saturation by end of 2012 according TRCSL sources. Mobitel reported improvement in all key profitability indicators EBITDA, EBIT and NPAT during the first quarter of 2013 compared to corresponding period of previous year. The growth achieved in overall revenue which increased by Rs 0.58 billion continues to be reflected across profitability indicators with EBITDA and EBIT growing by 3% and 5%.
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