Colt (COLT) scrapped the five-year revenue, cash profit and capital spending targets it laid out in 2012 as it crashed into the fences of regulatory price cuts and depressed European economies. The telecom services provider has restructured its business, shifted its focus towards key growth markets and made big-ticket acquisitions - but to no avail: underlying cash profit slid 7 per cent.
The key problem was an 18 per cent slump in constant-currency voice-services revenues. That reflected €76m (£55m) in lost sales due to Colt's mid-year exit from low-margin carrier contracts, as well as a €16m hit from further regulatory cuts to mobile termination rates (the charges mobile operators pay to complete a call on another carrier's network). Colt's datacentre services division was the only division to increase sales - by 6 per cent to €120m.
Colt - whose customers include many of the world's largest media, telecoms and financial services companies - has done its best to clean its stable. It slashed capital spending by a quarter to roughly €246m by cutting back on IT and data infrastructure investments. It has partnered with vendors such as Symantec and EMC to tap into rising demand for cybersecurity and virtual networks. And it recently shelled out €128m for peer KVH Asia to strengthen its overseas presence.
Analysts at Deutsche Bank forecast full-year pre-tax profits of €32m, giving EPS of 3¢.
| COLT (COLT) | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| ORD PRICE: | 150p | MARKET VALUE: | £1.3bn | |
| TOUCH: | 149-150p | 12-MONTH HIGH: | 156p | LOW: 113p |
| DIVIDEND YIELD: | NIL | PE RATIO: | NA | |
| NET ASSET VALUE: | 170¢ | NET CASH: | €77.4m | |
| Year to 31 Dec | Turnover (€bn) | Pre-tax profit (€m) | Earnings per share (¢) | Dividend per share (¢) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2010 | 1.58 | 47.0 | 8.0 | nil |
| 2011 | 1.55 | 72.0 | 7.0 | nil |
| 2012 | 1.59 | 29.5 | 3.0 | nil |
| 2013 | 1.58 | 42.4 | 4.0 | nil |
| 2014 | 1.50 | -23.1 | -3.0 | nil |
| % change | -5 | - | - | - |
£1=€1.37 | ||||
