Colt Group S.A. Interim Management Statement for the quarter ended 30 September 2012

Colt Group S.A. (London Stock Exchange: COLT) today issued its Interim Management Statement for the three months ended 30 September 2012.


FINANCIAL REVIEW
Three months to 30 September

€ millions - 2012 Unaudited - 2011 Unaudited

Revenue - 390.8 - 395.0

EBITDA1 - 81.6 - 84.3



Group revenue for the quarter amounted to €390.8 million (Q3 ‘11: €395.0 million). The decline in revenue (1.1%) was principally due to asset sales which were €6.3 million lower in the quarter compared to Q3 ’11, which had included modular data centres sales. Growth in non-DCS Managed Services and Data revenues in the quarter more than offset a decline in Voice revenues.

Group EBITDA of €81.6 million (Q3 ‘11: €84.3 million) represented a year on year decline of €2.7 million (3.2%). EBITDA was impacted by higher spend, including investments made in strategic areas of the business such as product development, MarketPrizm and ThinkGrid, a Cloud solutions provider. EBITDA in the quarter also included a €3.5 million expense accrued for cost efficiency programmes, including further re-alignment of the Enterprise Services direct salesforce. This was more than offset by several individually immaterial one-off cost credits, including regulatory settlements.

Net funds2 as at 30 September 2012 amounted to €263.2 million (30 June 2012: €288.5 million), reflecting increased capital expenditure in line with our investment programme, initial cash payment for the acquisition of ThinkGrid for €9.2 million and changes in working capital items. Cumulative capital expenditure for the first three quarters of 2012 amounted to €232.2 million (2011: €219.7 million).

1 EBITDA is earnings before net finance costs, tax, depreciation, amortisation, foreign exchange and exceptional items
2 Net funds includes deposits classified as current asset investments

Rakesh Bhasin, Chief Executive Officer, said:

“We continue to execute and invest in our strategic plan against a backdrop of challenging economic conditions in Europe. Our pipeline of opportunities remains encouraging. In line with our future direction, we continue to review initiatives to accelerate the required skills transformation for future growth while aligning cost structures for our legacy business.”

FORWARD LOOKING STATEMENTS

This report contains ‘forward looking statements’ including statements concerning plans, future events or performance and underlying assumptions and other statements which are other than statements of historical fact. Colt Group S.A., ‘the Group’, wishes to caution readers that any such forward looking statements are not guarantees of future performance and certain important factors could in the future affect the Group’s actual results and could cause the Group’s actual results for future periods to differ materially from those expressed in any forward looking statement made by or on behalf of the Group. These include, among others, the following: (i) any adverse change in regulations and technology within the IT services and communications industries, (ii) the Group’s ability to manage its growth, (iii) the nature of the competition that the Group will encounter and wider economic conditions including economic downturns, (iv) unforeseen operational or technical problems and (v) the Group’s ability to raise capital. The Group undertakes no obligation to release publicly the results of any revision to these forward looking statements that may be made to reflect errors or circumstances that occur after the date hereof.