Optus suffers 7.5pc profit slump

User Comment: LEAD Technologies Inc. V1.01 Source: The Australian

AUSTRALIA'S second-biggest telco, Optus, has suffered a 7.5 per cent slump in net profit for the year to March 31.

But its earnings have risen three per cent for the three months to March 31 and one per cent for the year.

In what it described as "stable" financial results, Optus today said its earnings before interest, taxation, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) grew to $700 million for the March quarter.

It recorded the result against a backdrop of what it described as "negative revenue growth in the Australian mobile industry".

Full year EBITDA grew to $2.38 billion despite a five per cent decline in revenue.

However, its net profit for the year dropped by 7.5 per cent to $728 million and by 6.9 per cent for the March quarter to $249 million.

Optus' underlying net profit, which excludes one-off items, fell by 4.5 per cent to $764 million for the year and by 3.6 per cent to $257 million for the March quarter.

The telco's chief country officer, Australia, Kevin Russell said Optus was focused on "driving sustainable, profitable growth and positioning itself to capitalise on mobile data revenue growth".

"We are committed to a sustainable business model and to rekindling the spirit of the Optus brand with a transformation program that fundamentally improves the services we deliver to our customers," he said. "Optus is building a strong, highly competitive mobile network through investments that are delivering enhanced 3G in-building coverage and 4G services in major population centres."

Optus continued to grow its postpaid mobile customer base with net additions of 28,000 for the quarter. Postpaid customers now comprise 57 per cent of the total base, up two percentage points from a year ago. Prepaid subscribers remained stable at 4.09 million.

Optus grew the number of 4G mobile handsets on its network to 785,000.

Optus is a wholly-owned division of Singapore Telecommunications. SingTel today announced a two per cent drop in fourth-quarter underlying net profit to $S1 billion ($810 million). Its full-year underlying net profit fell two per cent to $S3.61 billion while its underlying net profit for the quarter, when exceptional items were included, fell 33 per cent to $S868 million. That figure was due to a one-time loss of $S225 million from the divestment of telco Warid Pakistan.

Revenue for the group was down six per cent to $S4.48 billion but EBITDA was stable at $S1.43 billion.

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Slashed: Optus to cut 290 jobs

Optus has confirmed it will cut 290 jobs in Sydney as part of a restructure. Source: The Australian

OPTUS has slashed almost 300 jobs, with the majority coming from the company's head office in Sydney.

An Optus spokeswoman confirmed 290 roles would be affected as part of a restructure announced last month.

"We've had some discussions with the staff that are impacted," she told AAP.

The majority of positions would be made redundant within the next few weeks, she said.

However, the spokeswoman refused to say which other states would be affected and would not confirm whether roles would be lost in the technology and marketing divisions.

The company is working on its organisational structure as the rollout of the National Broadband Network continues.

It has cut its workforce by 962, or 9.9 per cent, in the past 12 months, company accounts released in February show.

At the end of last year Optus had 9.6 million mobile subscribers.

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