Deutsche Telekom’s revenue for 2009 increased 4.8 percent to EUR 64.6 billion compared with 2008, adjusted earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization (EBITDA) grew 6.2 percent to EUR 20.7 billion. This resulted in an adjusted EBITDA margin of 32.0 percent, up from 31.6 percent the previous year. The increase in profitability is even more marked in the fourth quarter of 2009: while revenue increased 0.6 percent year-on-year, adjusted EBITDA rose by 8.6 percent.
Adjusted net profit totaled EUR 3.4 billion, 1.1 percent below the prior-year figure. In unadjusted terms, net profit was considerably lower than the previous year at EUR 0.4 billion. This was mainly attributable to impairment losses of EUR 2.3 billion recognized on goodwill in the United Kingdom and Southeastern Europe.
“After a bumpy start, we rounded 2009 off with good results,” said René Obermann, CEO of Deutsche Telekom. “Cost discipline was key to getting through economically challenging times. However, we did not save at the expense of the future, but continued to invest heavily.”
Some notes from the financial report:
- Free cash flow was on target at EUR 7.0 billion for the full year, a mere 0.9 percent down on the 2008 level.
- The Group’s cash capex in 2009 totaled EUR 9.2 billion, an increase of 5.7 percent year-on-year.
- For DT’s fixed network in Germany, line losses and the reduction in call charges resulted in an expected revenue decline of 5.3 percent compared with 2008. At the same time, adjusted EBITDA decreased by just 2.4 percent.
- The number of line losses decreased to 417,000 in the fourth quarter, the lowest in any quarter since the end of 2005. In the full year, 2.1 million line losses were recorded, almost 17 percent less than in 2008.
- In Germany, the company has a DSL net market share of just over 45 percent.
- Revenues for the German mobile business increased by 0.5 percent to EUR 8.1 billion in the full year 2009.
- At year-end, Deutsche Telekom served 17.2 million mobile contract customers in Germany, up 1.1 percent compared with the end of 2008.
- T-Mobile USA was under intensified competitive pressure and as a consequence posted a 1.6-percent decline in revenue to USD 21.5 billion compared with 2008 and a decrease in adjusted EBITDA of 4.5 percent to USD 5.9 billion.
- The number of T-Mobile USA customers rose by one million in 2009, totaling 33.8 million at the end of the year. Having lost 77,000 customers in the third quarter, T-Mobile USA returned to growth in the fourth quarter with 371,000 net additions.
- T-Mobile USA’s said it surpassed 3G build-out targets in 2009 and now covers a population of 205 million. The entire 3G network was also upgraded with the HSPA standard and now supports data transmission rates of up to 7.2Mbps. Average data revenue per customer was USD 10.20 in the fourth quarter, which is more than 22 percent of total revenue per customer. A year ago, this figure was still below 19 percent. Total data revenue increased by 35 percent to USD 598 million in the fourth quarter compared with the same period in 2008. For the full year 2009, T-Mobile USA’s data revenue totaled USD 2.2 billion, up 37 percent on 2008.
- DT’s Europe segment recorded a revenue decrease of 11.6 percent and a decline in adjusted EBITDA of 13.0 percent over the full year on account of these influences.
- In the Netherlands, T-Mobile successfully completed the integration of Orange Nederland.
- In Poland, PTC finished the year successfully on the whole despite the major negative effects of the economic crisis. The EBITDA margin for the full year increased slightly year-on-year to 35.1 percent.
- Following the inclusion of the OTE group effective February of this year, the segment recorded a year-on-year revenue increase of around EUR 1.4 billion to EUR 2.6 billion in the fourth quarter. Adjusted EBITDA rose by EUR 0.5 billion to EUR 0.9 billion. Over the full year, revenue totaled EUR 9.7 billion, up EUR 5.0 billion year-on-year. Adjusted EBITDA was EUR 3.8 billion during the same period, increasing EUR 1.8 billion compared with the prior year.
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