Magyar Telekom (Reuters: MTEL.BU and Bloomberg: MTELEKOM HB), the leading Hungarian telecommunications service provider, has today reported its consolidated financial results for the first half of 2011, in accordance with International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS).
Highlights: Revenues were down 3.9%, from HUF 297.8 bn to HUF 286.1 bn in the first half of 2011 compared with the same period in 2010. This was mainly due to lower fixed and mobile voice revenues in all three countries. In Hungary, SI/IT revenues also declined. These declines were partly offset by growth in TV and mobile internet revenues. Appreciation of the Hungarian forint had a slightly negative effect on revenue contribution from international subsidiaries. EBITDA declined by 18.2%, from HUF 119.5 bn to HUF 97.8 bn, with an EBITDA margin of 34.2%. Underlying EBITDA, excluding investigation-related costs and provisions, severance expenses and the special telecom tax, increased by 0.8% to HUF 123.3 bn. The underlying EBITDA margin was 43.1% in the first half of 2011 compared to 41.1% in the same period of 2010. The higher underlying EBITDA margin reflects strong cost-cutting measures undertaken in employee-related and other operating expenditure, as well as a decrease in handset subsidies. In addition to this, Q1 2011 results were also supported by a HUF 1.4 bn gain on real estate sales in Hungary. Magyar Telekom has been subjected to a special telecom tax charged on the companys annual revenues, retrospectively from January 1, 2010. As this was only introduced in Q4 2010, the impact of the tax was only seen in the Q4 results of both the Group and its segments in 2010. However, the reported EBITDA of the Hungarian segments (Telekom Hungary and T-Systems Hungary) now includes the special telecom tax for both H1 2010 and H1 2011 to allow for a more accurate comparison of the year-on-year performance of the segments.But is the government allowed to do such a thing, especially using equipment of such dubious provenance? When a Malacañang functionary purchased a bunch of Apple laptops and Blackberry smart phones recently, he wasn't just indulging a jones for cool
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