Italtel has recorded revenue growth of 7% for the financial year ending December 31, 2014. The figures come as the Italtel SpA Shareholders Meeting, which met under the chairmanship of Professor Tiziano Onesti, approved the consolidated financial statements, prepared in compliance with IFRS 10. Revenues of €400.2m for the year have been reported, up 7% on the €374.2m recorded in 2013.
EBITDA normalized – which is comprised of the operating result plus amortization and depreciation, minus restructuring costs and not recurring components – is €33.8m. Equal to 8.4% of revenue, this represents an increase of 3.5%, compared to €32.6m 2013. The industrial restructuring plan has been completed with a further decrease in personnel costs to €79.2m (-8%) and a reduction in net operating expenses to €29m (-11%).
Stefano Pileri, CEO of Italtel, said: “For the second year in a row Italtel's results have recorded a significant growth which becomes even more relevant when considering the generally recessive nature of our reference markets. The restructuring plan launched over the last few years has been successfully completed and we have now reached a dimension and level of costs that maintains financial stability and allows us to proceed with our growth plan. With losses halved compared to 2013 and the guidelines of our industrial plan adhered to, we have laid the groundwork for a return to profitability.”
In 2014, Italtel continued its growth in international markets in EMEA and Latin America. Revenues from international service providers increased to €175.1m, a growth of 12.4% compared to €155.8m in 2013. In EMEA markets, revenues grew by 12% as a result of projects for large international telecommunications groups. In the Italian Service Providers market, there was a negative trend both in terms of volume of investment and pricing. However, Italtel maintained its role as a key vendor by being awarded strategic projects from leading national operators, it says, resulting in revenue growth of 7%.
In the domestic market of Large Enterprises and the Public Sector, Italtel has bolstered its market position in terms of revenue. It has also improved its margins thanks to a growth in the Energy and Transportation sector due to consolidationof Smart Grid services and solutions, it says.
In 2014, Italtel reinforced its offer portfolio of specialist engineering services and proprietary products developed under the Network Functions Virtualization (NFV) paradigm - which foresees the application of the architectures and technologies of cloud computing to telecommunication networks – with important references for Telecom Italia Group, Telefonica and Vodafone, it says.
Over the course of 2014, under Italtel’s strategic partnership with Cisco, the new solution “All IP Multimedia Communication” was presented to the market. Based on proprietary Italtel and Cisco technologies, the solution addresses telecommunications operators’ need to provide multimedia communication services for their mobile, fixed and business customers.