Mobistar exceeds growth forecasts in 2010

Today, Mobistar publishes its results for the financial year 2010. The Mobistar group continued its growth in Belgium and Luxembourg and will further strengthen its position as a convergent telecom player on both the residential and the business markets. Despite an unfavorable regulatory context, the Mobistar group achieved an increased turnover and exceeded its own forecasts for the full financial year 2010. These results allow Mobistar to pay out a dividend for a total amount of 258.1 million euros, or 4.30 euros per share.

• The consolidated turnover of the Mobistar group, including the consolidation of MES S.A. (Mobistar Enterprise Services) for 9 months, rose by 6.2 % (+2.2 % excl. MES S.A.) and amounted to 1,664.6 million euros at the end of 2010. This put the Mobistar group over its increased turnover forecasts.
• The Mobistar group ended the financial year 2010 with an EBITDA margin on service revenues of 36.2 % (37.1 % excl. MES S.A.) compared to 39.2 % at the end of 2009. The EBITDA of the Mobistar group amounted to 548.7 million euros at the end of December 2010, and thus also exceeded the forecasts.
• At the end of December 2010, the Mobistar group recorded a consolidated net profit of 263.6 million euros, or 1.3 % (1.9 % excl. MES S.A.) more than the year before and higher than forecasted.
• In 2010, the Mobistar group invested a total amount of 239.8 million euros (incl. costs for extension of the 2G licence), 64 % more than the 146.1 million euros invested in 2009. The organic cashflow rose by 10.4 % and amounted 329.3 million euros in 2010, compared to 298.4 million euros one year before.
• The Mobistar group had 4,039,372 active mobile telephony customers at the end of the 2010 financial year, an increase of 5.5 % in one year.
• At the end of 2010 Mobistar S.A. had 111,793 customers for mobile Internet via PC, or 31.1 % more than at the end of 2009. The use of mobile data also increased significantly, from 28.7 % of the service revenues at the end of 2009 to 32.3 % one year later.
• At the end of the financial year, Mobistar S.A. had 2,222,822 customers with a subscription, or 145,677 more than at the end of 2009. As a result, the proportion of postpaid customers in the customer base rose to 63.6 %.
• The average revenue per user (ARPU) of Mobistar S.A. fell by 0.9 % in one year, and amounted to 31.26 euros at the end of December 2010, mainly due to the regulatory measures.
• Mobistar S.A. had 54,861 ADSL customers at the end of December 2010, 16,823 more than at the end of 2009, a 44.2 % increase.
• Mobistar S.A. successfully introduced its ´Starpack´ on the residential market in October 2010, a combined offering with digital television, and in just 10 weeks signed up almost 10.000 installed and activated customers.
• The number of active ´machine-to-machine´ cards amounted to 193,245 at the end of the 2010 financial year, an increase of 49.1 % in twelve months.
• In 2010 the number of active fixed telephone lines with Mobistar S.A. rose by 22.2 %, bringing the total number to 182,883.
• The Mobistar group Board of Directors will propose the distribution of an ordinary dividend of 2.90 euros per share and an extraordinary dividend of 1.40 euro per share and will submit it for approval to the General Meeting of Shareholders of 4 May 2011.
  
  Full press release (PDF)