Revenue at fixed-line and broadband operator Smart Telecom almost doubled last year to €45 million, results published yesterday by the company show. Barry O'Halloran reports.
London-listed Smart said that turnover increased by 83 per cent to €45.6 million in 2005 from €25 million the previous year.
Losses before interest, tax and write-offs grew at a faster rate to €19.4 million last year from €8 million in 2004.
Losses before tax grew 110 per cent to €21.6 million from €10.2 million. The company ended 2005 with losses per share of 12 cent. The overall results were in line with expectations.
The pre-tax loss figure includes a €500,000 write down of goodwill which resulted from a review of Smart's investment in Switchcom Holdings. The charge for depreciation and amortisation also increased to €4 million from €2 million.
It had a once-off gain of €3 million from the sale of broadband lines in the Dublin region to Global Voice. During the year it spent €2 million on a bid for mobile network, Meteor, which Eircom subsequently bought for €420 million.
The acquisition of a licence to provide third generation (3G) mobile services in the Republic added over €60 million to Smart's balance sheet.
Net assets at the end of the year were €39.2 million, compared with €10 million at the end of 2004.
However, in February communications regulator Comreg withdrew its offer of the licence to Smart. It cited concerns over guarantees given by the company that covered the speed at which it would build the network and provide services.
Smart is contesting this decision in the High Court and a hearing is due early next month.
The company said yesterday that it expects to have signed up to 40,000 broadband customers by the end of this year.
Along with other players, Smart is encountering delays in signing up new customers.
These are partly due to an ongoing dispute between the market's dominant player, Eircom, the regulator and alternative operators over the speed at which Eircom should open up its network to competitors.
