Polish Cyfrowy surprises with Q4 net profit, debt costs weigh

04 Mar, 2015

WARSAW: Poland's largest media group, Cyfrowy Polsat, posted a 92 percent fall in fourth-quarter net profit, weighed down by debt costs, although it beat market forecasts for a slight net loss.

Revenue rose three times to 2.52 billion zlotys ($675.71 million), compared with 2.5 billion expected by analysts.

The group, controlled by Polish media mogul Zygmunt Solorz-Zak, said on Wednesday that its net profit was 14 million zlotys, while analysts polled by Reuters on average expected a loss of 3 million zlotys.

A year earlier its net profit was 173 million zlotys, but that was before the takeover of local mobile operator Polkomtel, which raised Cyfrowy's debt levels.

The group's ratio of net debt to EBITDA, or earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation, stood at 3.2 at the end of 2014, around two times more than a year earlier.

With the inclusion of Polkomtel, Cyfrowy's EBITDA rose three times year-on-year to 837.3 million zlotys in the fourth quarter, but missed market expectations of 857 million. EBITDA margin fell to 33.2 percent from 34.4 last year.

Cyfrowy said it wanted to maintain its margins and keep on cutting costs as well as its debt levels.

Copyright Reuters, 2015

Read Comments