Celcom posts dismal profit after tough year
Poor global economic environment and hard local trading conditions had also prompted the directors to set conservative budgets for the year ahead.
Celcom sells airtime, cellphone accessories and ring tones and clocked up revenue of R1bn for the year to June 30. That was up 46% from R694m, though its previous results covered a 15-month trading period to last June.
The revenue growth was largely due to the inclusion of the V Cellular retail stores, which accounted for 24% of the growth, while higher sales of prepaid virtual vouchers accounted for 18% of the growth. The gross profit margin stands at 9,7%, and after-tax profit climbed 55% to R3,7m from R2,3m a year ago. Headline earnings per share were almost flat at 1,38c, though that was 25% up on an annualised basis.
CEO Stefano Brachini said this financial year should see better results as the group will benefit from a full year of trading from the 50,5% stake in Celcom Uganda that Celcom acquired in May. That business presented an opportunity to obtain a significant distribution footprint in the fast-growing Ugandan telecoms market. Celcom’s results consolidated the input from Uganda for June this year, where the division suffered a loss of R76000 on revenue of R19m.
A year ago Celcom also reported poor trading conditions, blaming its dip in performance partly on the attractive give-aways that rival retailers offered with their cellular contracts, and on the importing of cheaper counterfeit accessories.
Its shares closed at 37c yesterday, well down from their listing price of R1 in 2006.
Loading ...