Sri Lanka Telecom (SLT) released its financial results for the nine months ending September 2014, recording an 8% year-on-year increase in group revenue to LKR48.0 billion (USD366 million), driven by positive contributions from all business segments (fixed, mobile and other). Operating costs increased by 8% to LKR33.2 billion during 9M14, including a LKR673 million one-time charge resulting from an out of court settlement in relation to importing IPTV equipment in 2007/08. Group EBITDA improved by 7% y-o-y to LKR14.9 billion in January-September 2014, while the group reported a 29% jump in net profit to LKR5.0 billion.
Mobitel, the mobile arm of the SLT group, continued a consistent growth trend despite intensifying competition, as revenue for the first nine months of 2014 increased to LKR22.7 billion, up by 11% compared to the corresponding period in 2013, mainly driven by a 7% subscriber base increase y-o-y. Mobitel’s nine-month EBITDA and EBIT rose by 9% and 8% respectively y-o-y whilst the cellco’s profit after tax hit LKR2.6 billion compared to LKR1.6 billion in 9M13, which was attributed to the EBIT/EBITDA growth as well as favourable macroeconomic conditions during the period.