OTE first-half group results driven by Cosmote

Greek full-service telco OTE’s group revenues for the three months ended 30 June 2008 increased by 2.5% compared to the second quarter of 2007 to EUR1.59 billion, mainly reflecting a strong performance from its domestic and international mobile operations, and also increased fixed broadband turnover attributable to the growth of its own retail DSL operations and local loop unbundling (LLU) in Greece. As of the end of June 2008, OTE’s total number of PSTN lines in Greece was approximately 4.3 million, down 8.5% compared to mid-2007, whilst the number of unbundled lines in the country reached nearly 500,000, after a quarter-on-quarter increase of just under 100,000 in Q2 2008 (similar to Q1). Excluding Q2 2007 revenues from Infote, its directories business sold in Q4, OTE’s consolidated year revenues grew by 3.5% in Q2 2008. Group operating income increased by 14% in the quarter under review to EUR288 million, as a result of strong mobile revenue growth together with cost containment measures applied across all group units. Quarterly pro forma operating income before depreciation and amortisation (OIBDA) increased by 6.9% year-on-year to EUR582 million, and pro forma OIBDA margin stood at 36.6%, 1.5 percentage points up from the comparable quarter last year, mainly due to strong mobile performance, highlighted by Cosmote Romania’s first OIBDA positive quarter. OTE’s group Q2 net income increased by 16.6% y-o-y to EUR159 million. Cosmote’s overall mobile revenues – including Greece, Romania, Macedonia (FYROM), Bulgaria and Albania – rose 7.6% to EUR794 million whilst mobile OIBDA reached EUR283 million, up 13%.