GT&T dialling up profits for ATN
-management praised for controlling costs
Stabroek News
March 19, 2004
Atlantic Tele-Network, Inc (ATN), the parent company of GT&T has reported an earnings increase for 2003 of 29%.
According to Business Wire, ATN reported net income of $3.2 million, or $0.64 per share ($0.64 diluted), for the quarter ended December 31, 2003, compared to net income of $2.6 million, or $0.51 per share ($0.50 diluted), for the quarter ended December 31, 2002, an increase of 25%. Net income for the full year totalled $12.2 million, or $2.44 per share ($2.43 diluted), compared to earnings of $9.5 million, or $1.90 per share ($1.87 diluted), for 2002, an increase of 29%.
Cornelius Prior, ATN's Chairman and Chief Executive Officer said: "We are quite pleased with our overall results in 2003. Management of our GT&T subsidiary did an excellent job of keeping expenses in check while growing subscribers and lines.
GT&T has publicly announced a goal of adding around 13,000 access lines in 2004, in continuation of our commitment to extend the core telecommunications infrastructure to new communities in Guyana.
GT&T has also begun work on adding a GSM overlay to its TDMA system to allow it to offer new services to its customers. While the fourth quarter saw a substantial increase in cellular subscribers due to seasonal promotions, we do not expect to see the same growth of our base in 2004 and we expect incoming competition, which had originally announced plans to be operational in 2003, to begin offering services some time in 2004."
Onward, upward... ATN shares on the NASDAQ
For the full year 2003, total operating revenues rose 11% to $78.9 million, as compared to $70.8 million for 2002. Local exchange service revenues contributed nearly $6 million of this roughly $8 million increase, rising 21%.
The increase in local exchange service revenues primarily reflects a 48% increase in GT&T's cellular subscribers, which increased from 79,915 on December 31, 2002 to 118,658 on December 31, 2003. For the same periods, GT&T's wireline subscribers (access lines) increased by 7% from 86,245 to 92,683 also contributing to the increase in revenues.
International long distance revenues rose 6% on greater traffic volumes but lower revenue per minute.
Income from telephone operations increased to $34.5 million in 2003, as compared to $27.4 million in 2002, an increase of $7.1 million or 26%. The company was able to improve margins significantly by holding total telephone operating expenses essentially flat, offsetting a 15% increase in general and administrative expenses and an 8% increase in telephone operating expenses with a 24% reduction in international long distance expenses due to lower average outbound termination rates.
Other operations, comprised of Choice Communi-cations and Call Home Telecom in the United States Virgin Islands and Atlantic Tele-Center (ATC) in Guyana, continued to struggle in their development efforts, increasing revenues by 13%, but also increasing expenses resulting in a loss from other operations of $5.5 million, a 9% increase over 2002.
ATN's share price (ticker symbol ANK) has surged in the last year going from $16.82 to $31.50 on the back of continued strong earnings.