Colt Telecom reported a drop-off in revenue for 2007 of €121.4m, 6.7pc down on 2006, to €1,679.6m.
The company experienced growth of €75.4m or 9.8pc in higher-margin data revenues and a drop of €196.8m or 19pc in lower-margin voice revenues.
Data revenue was 50.2pc of total revenue for the year compared with 42.6pc in 2006.
Revenue for the fourth quarter of 2007 decreased by €24.6m or 5.5pc to €424.6m, with growth of €20m or 10pc in data revenues and a drop of €44.6m or 18pc in voice revenues. Data revenue as a percentage of total revenue increased to 52pc, compared with 44.7pc for Q4 2006.
The growth in data revenue during the year was mainly driven by Ethernet and Colt Managed Services offerings, which now account for approximately 40pc of data revenue and which both grew at over 20pc per annum during 2007, the company said.
Voice revenue for the year decreased by 19pc to €837m and for the quarter decreased by 18pc to €203.7m. After excluding the impact of reductions in fixed to mobile prices, annual voice revenue decreased by 14.7pc and the quarter by 14.1pc, Colt stated.
Annual operating profit increased by €30.6m to €55.3m, reflecting the improved mix of revenues and controlled growth in operating expenses.
Annual EBITDA (earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortisation) grew by €6.5m to €277.4m, with a quarterly increase of €0.9m to €71.8m.
2007 was the third successive year of EBITDA growth, said Colt. Full-year profit before taxation increased by €48.7m to €39.2m after a €9.5m loss in 2006. Q4 2006 was the company’s sixth successive profitable quarter, with profit before taxation at €13.5m, a €4.6m improvement year on year and a €4.8m improvement quarter on quarter.
By Niall Byrne
