Sri Lanka Telecom PLC Group’s profits has increased by 13.5% in the six months ending June 30, 2018. The Group, inclusive of the Holding Company comprises of eight subsidiaries including the mobile arm Mobitel (Pvt) Ltd.
The Group reported a Rs. 2.8 billion net profit during the first half of 2018 demonstrating a 13.5% growth compared to the same period in the previous year. The operating cost for the period is Rs. 27.2 billion with a lower year on year increase of 3.3%. Disciplined cost management and operational efficiencies together with revenue growth show the group EBITDA reaching Rs. 12.2 billion with an improved margin of 30.9% compared to 29.4% the year before.
Noteworthy is that the Fibre-To-The-Home (FTTH) services which have shown very strong growth potential has almost doubled its revenues compared to the first half of 2017.
During the period under review the group invested Rs. 10.8 billion for the acquisition of property, plant and equipment as well as intangible assets aimed at technology upgrades, infrastructure expansions, new connections, IT and system upgrades etc. In line with increasing investments the group depreciation increased by 10.2% to Rs. 9.1 billion.
The group reported an Operating profit of Rs.3.1bn during the 1st half of 2018 and Profit before tax of Rs. 3.6 billion with a 12.9% and 16.2% year on year increase respectively.
Group Chairman Kumarasinghe Sirisena was pleased with the positive results of the group. “This is the outcome of continuous tactical investments in all the strategic areas of the Group during the recent past. Our growth momentum is therefore very sustainable”, he said.
The Holding Company - Sri Lanka Telecom PLC- reported a Rs. 1.0 bn net profit during the first half of 2018, showing an impressive 62.1% year on year growth.
The improvements to the profits were largely driven by year on year revenue growth of 5.3% and managing of operating cost escalations at a lower level of 1.9% year on year.
During the period under review the company reported Rs. 23.3 billion in revenue and Rs. 16.6 billion in operating cost.
Kiththi Perera, CEO of the holding company said, “Our journey of transforming the Company to a Digital Service Provider, anticipates transforming and strategically preparing ourselves to meet the challenges of the future. The high demand for FTTH, LTE, Fiber VPN and Cloud technologies has demonstrated the interest of people in moving towards an emerging Digital Culture.” he added.