Eir on Wednesday reported a 6% increase in earnings in the first quarter of its financial year and growth in turnover, but noted that it faces intense competition in the market.
The Irish incumbent’s adjusted EBITDA for the three months to the end of September came in at €120 million, up by €6 million on the same period a year earlier.
The operator, which adopted its current brand in September, reported a 4% increase in revenue to €325 million; fixed-line revenue grew by 3% to €245 million, while turnover form mobile services increased by almost 5% to €9 1 million.
"We have recorded a strong first quarter built upon the progress of our recent results, delivering a second consecutive quarter of revenue growth coupled with our third consecutive quarter of EBITDA growth," said Eir CEO Richard Moat, in a statement.
"This solid financial performance, together with our recent brand launch, provides real momentum as we continue our transformation in an increasingly competitive market," Moat added.
The chief executive talked up the company’s investments in fixed and mobile infrastructure, as well as customer growth in fibre broadband.
However, there was a more measured comment from chief financial officer Huib Costermans.
"These are a pleasing set of financial results continuing a recent trend of both top line and bottom line single digit growth," he said. "However against a backdrop of increased competitive intensity, we have to continue to make progress on our operational KPIs."
Eir’s broadband customer base stood at 798,000 at the end of September, up by 16,000 in the quarter and 66,000 over the previous 12 months. That included 453,000 retail broadband customers, down by 1% on the year-ago figure.
It had 326,000 retail and wholesale fibre customers at the same date, and its fibre rollout covered 1.3 million premises. TV customers numbered 43,000.
Triple and quad-play services are growing in importance, as more telcos seeks to boost their television businesses, faced with competition from TV providers pushing broadband services.
Last week there were media reports that Eir is in talks that could lead to its acquiring pay TV provider Setanta.
