ecotel communication ag / Key word(s): Half Year Results/Half Year Results

15.08.2012 / 07:58

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* Net debt cut in half to 1.5 mill. EUR
* EBITDA of 1.6 mill. EUR in second quarter
* Half-year earnings per share 0.24 EUR

Düsseldorf, 15 August 2012 

Continuing the successful start of the first quarter ecotel met the goals set by management for the second quarter as well. In the half-year comparison, revenue increased by 17% to 47.6 mill. EUR (previous year: 40.6 mill. EUR) and the gross profit improved slightly from 12.2 to 12.3 mill. EUR. The gross profit margin dropped from 30% to 26% compared with last year, due to the high share of revenue in the low-margin Wholesale segment.
Due to the large number of holidays and vacation days in the second quarter, sales in B2B could not quite match those of the previous quarter (9.8 mill. EUR, or a decrease of 0.6 mill. EUR).

The cumulative EBITDA result of the first six months, 3.4 mill. EUR, was slightly below last year's value of 3.5 mill. EUR. The EBITDA margin was 7.1%. EBIT of 1.9 mill. EUR, due to the special depreciation in the second quarter of the previous year, was 0.4 mill. EUR above last year's value. Consolidated profit for the first half year totalled 0.9 mill. EUR, which corresponds to earnings per share of 0.24 EUR compared with 0.15 EUR in the previous year.

The free cash flow in the second quarter amounted to 1.8 mill. EUR (previous year: 1.5 mill. EUR). The net debt has been cut in half since the start of the year and totalled 1.5 mill. EUR at the end of the second quarter. The equity ratio remained at 50% in the reporting period.
Due to the continued demand for high bandwidth and the resulting positive incoming order situation, management confirmed the previous forecast and expects EBITDA of 6.0 - 7.0 mill. EUR for the business year 2012, with revenue of 80 - 90 mill. EUR.

The quarterly report is available for download at the company's website www.ecotel.de.

About ecotel communication ag:

Listed in the Prime Standard segment of the Frankfurt Stock Exchange, ecotel communication ag is a telecommunications company with activities in three business sectors throughout Germany.

In the core segment of Business Solutions ecotel provides about 20,000 business customers with an integrated product portfolio consisting of voice, data and mobile communications solutions. This includes nationwide available and convergent bundled products, broadband data access on the basis of DSL and Ethernet technologies, scalable networking of corporate locations (VPNs) as well as housing and hosting services.
In the second segment, 'Wholesale Solutions', the ecotel group markets preliminary service products to other telecommunications companies. At the same time, the company achieves high traffic volumes in this segment, enhancing added value for the core segment of Business Solutions. In addition to the international wholesale voice activities of ecotel, mvneco GmbH is also included in this segment.

The 'New Business' segment covers new, fast-growing business segments and niches of independently operating subsidiaries. In addition to easybell GmbH, which is aligned to private customer business, nacamar GmbH, which now focuses exclusively on new media activities, is part of this independent business unit.

The corporate group, with its main office in Düsseldorf, currently has about 210 employees, including subsidiaries and holdings.
Note:
This publication is not an offer for the sale nor an invitation for the purchase or subscription of securities. This publication is not a securities brochure. This publication and the information contained therein are not intended for direct or indirect dissemination to or within the United States of America, Canada, Australia or Japan.

End of Corporate News

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Language: English Company: ecotel communication ag Prinzenallee 11 40549 Düsseldorf Germany Phone: +49 (0)211 55 00 70 Fax: +49 (0)211 55 00 7 222 E-mail: info@ecotel.de Internet: http://www.ecotel.de ISIN: DE0005854343 WKN: 585434 Listed: Regulierter Markt in Frankfurt (Prime Standard); Freiverkehr in Berlin, Düsseldorf, München, Stuttgart  
 
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