Revenue fell by 7.3% to €1.94 billion for the first half of 2014, compared to €2.09 billion for the same period last year, and the Austrian operator said that this was largely due to a €400 million impairment it was forced to book on its Bulgarian operations in June.
The impairment for Mobiltel in Bulgaria resulted in a negative net result of €317.8 million at Group level, and Hannes Ametsreiter, CEO at Telekom Austria Group, said that the continuing effects of the global economic and financial crisis hit the CEE marker particularly hard at the beginning of the year.
“The Bulgarian market especially has been heavily overshadowed by poor economic prospects and the consequences of the conflict in Ukraine,” Ametsreiter said.
“As one of the leading communications providers in Eastern Europe, Telekom Austria Group has not been immune to such negative developments.”
However, Ametsreiter says that its strong relationship with shareholder América Móvil, will allow it to further develop, and Siegfried Mayrhofer, CFO at Telekom Austria Group, said that the results reflect its success in counteracting revenue declines.
“Taking into account the one-off effects, we are on the right track to improve our operating business moving forward,” said Mayrhofer.
“This is absolutely necessary to be able to further finance investments in the roll-out of our broadband network with a view to guaranteeing a high level of quality for our customers, while contributing to future-proofing our region.”
