Summary results:
Group revenue declined 1.2% in the face of adverse currency movements and regulatory price declines on our Voice business. On a constant currency basis total revenue growth was flat compared to 2012
EBITDA before exceptional items declined 4.0% to €320.1m as the reduction in SG&A costs from our 2012 skills transformation programme was more than offset by lower gross profits resulting from a combination of changes in product mix in Voice and Data services, increased investments in strategic growth areas and one-off cost credits received in 2012
Net funds declined from €280.1m to €195.6m with free cash outflow of €82.8m driven by strategic capex investments, lower EBITDA and increased working capital. Strategic capex investments included the purchase of a strategic network site in London (€41.7m)
Business highlights:
Continued to invest in the information delivery platform strengthening our reputation with customers and the market. This included growth in our strategic products, winning more larger deals, including our largest ever managed networking deal signed in Q4.
Launched Modular MSP (multi-service platform), an industry-first platform that enables the delivery of IP services using virtual customer premise equipment capability and delivers significant capex efficiency
Progress made in developing the foundations for our IT Services business launching enterprise class cloud services in eight data centres across six European countries and in Asia under the Colt Optimum brand. Provided small and medium size entities with a range of on-demand computing and networking services through our ThinkGrid platform under the Colt Ceano brand
Continued to build our reputation with our customers and, as a result, improved our Net Promoter Score from 14% in 2012 to 22% in 2013
