Corporate | 27 March 2003 06:58

Telekom Austria AG english

Telekom Austria Group – Results for the Financial Year 2002 Corporate-news announcement sent by DGAP. The sender is solely responsible for the contents of this announcement. ——————————————————————————– Vienna, March 27, 2003 – Telekom Austria AG (VSE: TKA; NYSE: TKA) today announced its results for the full year 2002 and the fourth quarter ending on December 31, 2002. Total managed revenues increased by 1.3% to EUR 3,908.2 million on a comparable basis, i.e. adjusting 2001 figures for the impact of the netting of transit interconnection revenues and costs, introduced at the beginning of 2002. The rise in total managed EBITDA by 2.7% to EUR 1,514.8 million during the full year 2002 was driven by the growth in the mobile business segment. The improvement of total managed EBIT from EUR 158.0 million in 2001 to EUR 323.5 million includes the impact of the reduction of charges primarily relating to the impairment in the goodwill of Czech On Line which fell from EUR 145.1 million in 2001 to EUR 41.9 million in 2002. Consolidated net profit of Telekom Austria AG rose to EUR 12.8 million during the full year 2002 from a net loss of EUR 104.6 million in the same period of the previous year. Earnings per share improved from EUR (0.21) to EUR 0.03. Efforts to reduce capital expenditures continued during the fourth quarter and led to a decline for the full year of 18.4% to EUR 662.4million. The improvement of the operating result and lower capital expenditures contributed to reduce net debt by EUR 77.9 million to EUR 3,204.2 million as of December 31, 2002 compared to the end of 2001. This reduction took place despite the debt incurred to finance the acquisition of the remaining 25.001% stake in mobilkom austria for EUR 693.1 million, including transaction costs. Quarterly figures show an increase in total managed revenues on a comparable basis by 3.8% to EUR 1,008.4 million during 4Q 02 compared to the same period in the prior year. Total managed EBITDA declined by 1.9% to EUR 303.9 million. Quarterly EBIT improved from (140.8) million to EUR (62.0) million. 4Q 02 EBITDA in the fixed line business includes the impact from the transfer of additional participants in Telekom Austria’s voluntary retirement program into the state’s early retirement schemes. This lead to reversals of voluntary retirement provisions in the amount of EUR 24.3 million in 4Q 02 and EUR 57.4 million for the full year 2002. In 4Q 02 this additional income was more than off-set by extraordinary personnel and other operating costs in the total amount of EUR 27.4million. Contact: Hans Fruhmann, Telekom Austria AG, Investor Relations Tel.: +43 (0) 590591-20917, E-mail: hans.fruhmann@telekom.at Further information about the results are available on www.telekom.at/ir. end of message, (c)DGAP 27.03.2003 ——————————————————————————– WKN: 072000; ISIN: AT0000720008; Index: ATX Listed: Amtlicher Handel in Wien; Freiverkehr in Düsseldorf, Frankfurt, München und Stuttgart; New York (ADR) 270658 Mär 03