Telco services company Uniti Group has posted strong revenue and earnings growth on the back of its fibre network business.
In the six months ended 31 December 2020, Uniti’s revenue grew 148 percent year over year to $54.6 million, while EBITDA grew 307 percent to $29.3 million.
Net profit declined 24 percent to $3.9 million due to costs incurred with the acquisitions of OptiComm, Harbour ISP, Telstra Velocity, among others. Underlying profit increased 409 percent to $24.7 million.
The growth was attributed to digital app evolution, a strengthening property market, growing demand for speed and data, near-infinite fibre technology capacity and anticipated retail price inflation.
All three of the company’s units have posted growth during the period. Wholesale & Infrastructure was fuelled by strong fibre demand, while the retail service provider business unit, Consumer and Business, saw an 80 percent jump in new customers.
Specialty Services, now renamed “CPaaS” (Communications Platform as a Service), also saw strong organic revenue and earnings growth in its main digital platform offerings.
Uniti said it is in a position for an acceleration in long-term organic growth largely through future revenue that’s already locked in from customers in its fibre infrastructure business.
“Uniti has transformed into a core infrastructure owner and operator, enjoying scale and relevance in our chosen markets and with the unique advantage of having ‘locked-in’ organic growth, thanks to our large and growing contracted fibre order book,” Uniti managing director Michael Simmons said.
“We are privileged to be operating in a segment of the telecommunications industry experiencing once-in-a-lifetime favourable market and economic conditions and investing in fibre infrastructure, which delivers a highly demanded essential commodity to consumers and business, which is able to accommodate very long term demand growth with minimal incremental capital or operating expenditure.”
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