euro adhoc: freenet AG
quarterly or semiannual financial statement
freenet
merger produces first results
good performance seen in first six months of 2007
Disclosure announcement transmitted by euro adhoc. The issuer is responsible for the content of this announcement.
6-month report
08.08.2007
freenet merger produces first results / good performance seen in first six months of 2007 Customer growth in all emerging segments: mobile telephony + 270,000, DSL + 390,000, contract customers + 670,000 (vs. end of June 2006) Operating profits up: EBITDA at EUR136.0 million; EBT EUR107.1 million
Büdelsdorf, 08th August 2007 - In the first full quarter following the completion of the merger in March, freenet AG showed continued growth in its major lines of business, and registered a year-on-year increase in profitability. The number of customers also rose across all of the group´s growth segments: the end of June 2007 saw 5.24 million mobile phone customers, an increase of 270,000 customers compared with the first half of 2006, and 1.22 million broadband customers. freenet has thus added 390,000 DSL customers since the end of June 2006. In all, freenet had over 11.9 million customers at the end of the 2nd quarter, including 6.21 million contract customers. Due to the mandatory partial capitalization of customer acquisition and customer retention costs pursuant to IAS 38 and freenet´s new wholesale agreement with Deutsche Telekom in mid-2006, any direct comparisons with the same quarters of last year are possible only to a very limited extent. These changes result in this quarterly report showing lower sales against rising gross earnings and operating profits. Against this backdrop and in a market characterised by steadily increasing competition and dwindling prices especially in the mobile telephony and broadband segments, freenet generated second-quarter revenues of EUR466.9 million, a good 3 percent increase vs. the prior quarter, and first-half revenues totalling EUR919.3 million. The mobile telephony segment accounted for EUR302.8 million of this, the fixed-line / Internet business contributed EUR164.1 million. The Group´s greatly improved margins and gross profit figures were reflected in the operating profits. EBITDA rose from EUR65.5 million (Q1/2007) to EUR70.5 million in Q2/2007, yielding EBITDA of EUR136.0 million for the first half of 2007 - a good 71 percent increase compared with the first six months of 2006. Earnings before taxes and interest (EBIT) came to EUR96.7 million for the first half of 2007, nearly 70 percent above the first-half figure for 2006 (EUR56.9 million). During the first six months of 2007, freenet AG had earnings before taxes (EBT) of EUR107.1 million, a more than 70 percent increase compared with the first half of 2006. The Group operating profit also improved to EUR89.8 million in the first half of 2007.
Important KPI's of freenet group Accounting method: IAS/IFRS
in EURm 1st half 2007 1st half 2006 Q2/2007 Q1/2007 Q2/2006 Group revenue 919.3 1,017.3 466.9 452.4 495.3 Revenue Mobile 581.5 640.8 302.8 278.8 315.5 Revenue Fixed/Internet 337.8 376.4 164.1 173.7 179.8 Group gross profit 299.2 232.9 157.3 141.9 120.5 Group EBITDA 136.0 79.6 70.5 65.5 41.5 Group EBIT 96.7 56.9 45.9 50.9 29.9 Group EBT 107.1 62.9 51.3 55.8 33.1 Net result 89.8 37.8 39.9 49.9 19.8 Earnings per share 0.93 0.45 0.41 0.52 0.26 Cash and cash equivalents 540.6 470.6 540.6 538.0 470.6 Customers total 11.86 13.75 11.86 12.68 13.75 thereof contract customers 6.21 5.54 6.21 6.12 5.54
end of announcement euro adhoc 08.08.2007 07:34:30
Further inquiry note:
Andreas Neumann
IR-Manager
Tel.: +49 (0)40 51306-778
E-Mail: ir@freenet.ag
Branche: Online
ISIN: DE000A0EAMM0
WKN: A0EAMM
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