Croatian Telecom rides on the back of a good tourist season as their profitability continues to grow.
As Bernard Ivezic/Poslovni Dnevnik writes on the 1st of November, 2018, an excellent and highly successful summer is now behind Croatian Telecom. The communications company can now freely boast of its significant increase in profitability, as well as a change in the revenue structure which also aided the increases.
The widely used operator, which has the most liquid share of all on the Zagreb Stock Exchange, concluded that its net profits rose from 19.1 percent to 864 million kuna, or 18.6 percent to 872 million kuna in the first nine months of this year alone, when the the non-controlling share is also accounted for.
More importantly, Croatian Telecom's operating profits grew by 6.5 percent compared to the same period last year, to a massive 2.39 billion kuna. This also means that the operating margin has risen to 41.9 percent from last year's recorded 38.8 percent. The only indicator that continues to stagnate is the company's revenue. Croatian Telecom's total revenue for the first nine months of 2018 fell by 0.1 percent to 5 billion kuna and 897 million as a direct result of a good tourist season.
Although operators have been somewhat negatively affected by the abolition of mobile roaming this season, Croatian Telecom has seen its revenues slightly increase in the third quarter, from 2.15 billion kuna last year to 2.16 billion kuna this year. Profits gained before tax has also increased, from 388.4 million kuna last year to 516.3 million kuna this year.
When it comes to alterations within the revenue structure, the main news is that Croatian Telecom has started to rely more on mobile telecommunications again. In the first nine months of last year, fixed telecommunication within the company was stronger than mobile communications by nearly a quarter of a billion kuna. This year, mobile communications grew by 5.3 percent to 2.61 billion kuna, while fixed communication fell 4.7 percent to 2.57 billion kuna.
Croatian Telecom states they have invested up to 1.24 billion kuna in the modernisation of both fixed and mobile infrastructure.
Davor Tomašković, Croatian Telecoms's Chairman of the Board, praised the fact that they have now achieved their best results in the past five years.
"During the first nine months [of 2018], we've achieved excellent results, and according to the growth of all key financial indicators, it is one of the best quarters for Croatian Telecom in the last five years," concluded Tomašković.
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Click here for the original article by Bernard Ivezic for Poslovni Dnevnik
