The company confirms strong growth in revenues, clients and EBITDA
e.Biscom First Quarter 2003 consolidated EBITDA positive at over Euro 12 million
Revenues rise to over Euro 100 million for the first time
Italian and German clients grow to 290,000
Milan, April 7th 2003 - e.Biscom S.p.A. (Milan, Nuovo Mercato: EBI), Italy's first broadband telecommunications company, announced its preliminary first quarter 2003 consolidated results confirming strong growth in revenues, clients and EBITDA.
During the first quarter 2003, e.Biscom's consolidated revenues rose to over Euro 100 million for the first time, up over 55% from Euro 65.2 million in the same period of the previous year, and up 10% from Euro 91.2 million in the fourth quarter 2002. This revenue growth is particularly remarkable given historic low seasonal factors.
On March 31st 2003, FastWeb and HanseNet total clients increased to about 290,000, almost two and a half times the 118,900 clients of the same period of the previous year, and up from the 246,600 clients at the end of the fourth quarter 2002. In order to further improve the quality of the service offered to its residential clients, in March FastWeb launched its TV-based Video-on-Demand service also over ADSL, a breakthrough innovation in Italy. Moreover, this breakthrough allows FastWeb's ADSL residential clients to access the Internet at a speed of up to 4 Mbit/s downstream (up to 0.512 Mbit/s upstream).
After having reached a positive consolidated EBITDA of Euro 1.7 million in the fourth quarter 2002, a year ahead of schedule, in the first quarter 2003 e.Biscom confirmed the strong growth pattern experienced throughout 2002. In the January-March period, the e.Biscom consolidated EBITDA rose to over Euro 12 million, not yet including the positive effects of the reduction in the interconnection tariffs of Telecom Italia that will be incorporated in the final results. Comparatively, the e.Biscom consolidated EBITDA in the same period of the previous year stood at a negative Euro 22 million.
"Our preliminary first quarter results - said Silvio Scaglia, e.Biscom Chief Executive Officer - confirm the strong growth trend shown in 2002. Thanks to the great success of the broadband telecommunications services offered by FastWeb and HanseNet we are now fully in line with our year-end targets."
The above-mentioned numbers are preliminary and subject to possible small modifications. The final consolidated results for the Group for the first quarter 2003 will be announced on May 14th.