Huge Group earnings boosted by telecoms

·30 May 2014

Alt-X listed holding company, Huge Group, says that its telecom segment increased operating profit before tax by 53% to R23.1 million, for the year ended February 2014.

Huge Telecom and Huge Mobile, wholly-owned subsidiary companies of Huge, are the principal trading entities of the group providing voice, messaging, data and video connectivity services utilising a wireless, GSM-based, fixed-cellular, last-mile solution.

Huge said that overall revenue declined 23%, from R266 million, to R203.5 million, however, headline earnings per share advanced to 13.92 cents per share, from a loss of 4.07 cents in 2013.

Huge reported an operating profit of R18 million, from a prior loss of R1.2 million before.

The group said that sales measured by the number of telephone lines sold (excluding churn) increased substantially during the year, to 8 262 units – representing a 226% increase over FY2013.

Average monthly sales of telephone lines also increased during the year under review, from an average of 309 units during FY2013 to an average of 689 units during FY2014 (FY2012: 203 units).

In March 2014, sales of new telephone lines exceeded 1,000 lines for the first time in the company’s history, Huge said.

“We have been able to arrest the levels of churn in the business during the period under review. During FY2014 Huge Telecom reduced churn from an average of 362 units per month during FY2013 to an average of 281 units per month,” Huge said.

It said that the average selling price for a mobile minute during FY2014 was 93 cents per minute, from R1.15 in 2013, while the average selling price for a fixed-line minute over the same period was 38 cents per minute (FY2013: 44 cents).