Revenue is up 9% to $724.5 million, and the all important EBITDA, (earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation) is $293.1 million, up by 12% from the previous year. Net profit after tax was $149.2 million, up 64%, although the prior year’s result was adversely affected by a $23.2 million one-off tax expense which arose from a retrospective tax legislation change.
“Excluding the impact of this from the prior year numbers, the result still represents a 31% increase in profit, and also in earnings per share which grew to 18.8 cents for the year,” said TPG Executive Chairman David Teoh.
The best growth came from TPG’s consumer division – revenue grew from $412 .7 million to $480.3 million, which makes it now twice the size of TPG’s corporate division. TPG grew its consumer broadband subscriber base by 76,000 last year to 671,000.
This compares to a growth of 47,000 in the previous year. It comprised a net increase of 130,000 subscribers to TPG’s home phone and broadband bundle plans, partially offset by the reduction in standalone on-net (40,000) and off-net (14,000) subscribers. TPG’s mobile phone subscriber base increased by 105,000 in the last year, compared to 54,000 in the previous year. TPG now has 360,000 mobile phone subscribers.
TPG’s corporate division saw revenues decline marginally, from $250.4 million to $244.3 million. But it achieved EBITDA of $110.3 million, similar to the previous year. Teoh said this earnings growth has been achieved “in a highly competitive environment in corporate, government and wholesale sales, and is largely attributable to improved margins resulting from the Group’s previous and ongoing fibre network investment.”
That investment is substantial, though overall capital expenditure fell by 10% to $58.3 million for the year. Nevertheless, TPG’s domestic fibre network footprint grew by over 800 km in the year to greater than 3,800 km, with more than 300 additional buildings becoming directly connected to the network, withl on-net buildings now exceeding 1,600.
International fibre infrastructure includes TPG’s own submarine cable (“PPC-1”) linking Australia to Guam, as well as capacity on other cable networks linking Australia directly with New Zealand, USA, Japan, Hong Kong, Singapore and Philippines.
In August 2013 TPG confirmed its intention to acquire capacity on the Australia-US and Australia-NZ segments of the planned Hawaiki submarine cable, which Teoh said will provide a significant addition to the capacity and diversity of the TPG’s international network. The expected capital expenditure in relation to this project is US$10-20 million for each of the next three financial years prior to the cable’s expected activation in 2016.
A significant addition to TPG’s network infrastructure during the year was its purchase at the digital dividend auction of 20 MHz of spectrum licences in the 2.5 GHz band. “The acquisition of spectrum will complement TPG’s fixed infrastructure, giving us opportunities to offer value-added products to further enhance our existing product suite,” said Teoh. The spectrum will only become available for use from October 2014, with the $13.5 million purchase price payable in September 2014.
