Eir reports rise in revenue
Eir has reported a rise in revenue and earnings for the three months to the end of March.
The telecom company’s revenues were up 3% to €321m, with earnings before interest, tax, deductions and amortisation and storm costs rising 4% to €125m.
The company also said that its operating costs, before storm costs, were broadly in line with the previous year.
It said it was on track to meet its full year outlook despite incurring €5m in once-off costs to repair faults on its networks caused by the very wet weather during the winter months.
Eir said it had seen growth in its broadband and television products, while the roll out of fibre and high speed connections continued.
It said it remains on target to reach 1.6 million premises by the end of June this year and over 80% of Irish premises “as quickly as possible”.
The company also said that it has started the rollout of high speed broadband to 300,000 premises in rural areas of the country, adding that it expects to pass the first 100,00 of these premises by the end of 2016.
The company today confirmed that its acquisition of Setanta Sports has now been completed.
“The acquisition of Setanta Sports Ireland is one of the most significant milestones in our continuing turnaround. Work is already underway to integrate Setanta into our business over the coming months,” commented Eir’s chief executive Richard Moat.
Mr Moat also said that the company’s third quarter results are in line with expectations and “demonstrate a continuation of the positive momentum we have seen in recent quarters”.
Today’s results show that Eir’s broadband connections rose by 19,000 in the first quarter to reach 836,000. 47% of these connections are high speed broadband, it noted.
It said its group mobile base stood at 1,078,000 by the end of March. The pre-paid customer based decreased by 41,000 over the 12 months to March, but the higher value postpay customer base rose by 34,000.
Eir also said its Eir Vision TV customer base now stands at 49,000 customers, while its triple and quad-play bundle penetration increased to 19%.
Source: RTE News
