First Quarter 2012
London, UNITED KINGDOM – 11 May 2012 – euNetworks Group Limited, announced results for the three months ended 31 March 2012. The Group reported a favourable quarter overall, with continued recurring revenue growth and a strong quarter of sales performance. The Group also benefitted from the addition of revenues following 2011 acquisitions, albeit with lower gross margin.
In summary, for the first quarter, recurring revenues were €23.0m, up from €10.5m in 1Q 2011 and €22.3m in 4Q 2011. All revenues were recurring in the quarter. Following a strong sales year through 2011, the value of total new sales order contracts grew significantly in 1Q 2012, reaching €23.2m, up from €12.8m in 1Q 2011 and €15.0m in 4Q 2011. With growth of 81% year on year and 55% sequentially, this was the strongest ever sales quarter for euNetworks. Gross profit in the quarter increased by 96%, from €7.8m in 1Q 2011 to €15.3m in 1Q 2012.
Gross margin for the quarter was 66.5%, down from 74.3% in 1Q 2011 but improving sequentially. The decline in gross margin year on year largely reflected acquisitions completed in 2011. As stated in previous quarters, both acquired businesses were enterprise in nature, and with a lack of their own metropolitan networks, historically operated at lower gross margins. euNetworks expects gross margin to improve over time, through a combination of integration synergies and high margin new sales. On average, new sales in 1Q 2012 had gross margins of ~83%, up from ~80% in 4Q 2011.
Adjusted EBITDA was €2.1m in the quarter, up from €0.4m in 1Q 2011 and €0.1m in 4Q 2011. There were a number of one-off costs relating to systems and process improvements in the quarter. These were associated with integration and continuing to build the foundations for growth. Excluding these one-off items, underlying adjusted EBITDA remained in line with that for 4Q 2011.
“The momentum we saw in our business in 4Q 2011 has continued through the 1Q 2012,” said Brady Rafuse, Chief Executive Officer of euNetworks. “Integration programmes and synergies delivered from the acquisitions made last year, continue to drive further value into our business. We remain focused on selling our core assets, and it is these assets coupled with added capabilities in our Ethernet and Internet products that have delivered an exceptional sales quarter for euNetworks. We exited 2011 with a strong sales funnel and have converted that to strong sales performance this quarter. Bandwidth is a key enabler of our customers’ growth plans, and our business plan and assets are aligned to this.” “As we move into 2Q 2012, we remain focused on delivering our business plan,” said Rafuse. “Continued growth in long term recurring revenues is vital to being able to service the cost base this business requires to reach scale. At the same time, we remain focused on managing our costs appropriately.”
euNetworks is a bandwidth infrastructure company, owning and operating 18 fibre based metropolitan networks connected with a high capacity intercity backbone covering 53 cities in 17 countries. The company leads the market in data centre connectivity, directly connecting over 545 today. euNetworks is also a leading cloud connectivity provider, directly connecting to all key cloud platforms with access to additional platforms. The company offers a targeted portfolio of metropolitan and long haul services including Dark Fibre, Wavelengths, and Ethernet. Wholesale, finance, content, media, data centre and enterprise customers benefit from euNetworks’ unique inventory of fibre and duct based assets that are tailored to fulfil their high bandwidth needs.