Tuesday, Israeli mobile telephone network operator Partner Communications (PTNR) posted a slight increase in fourth-quarter profit from a year ago on higher revenue and lower expenses.
Fourth-quarter profit for the year increased 1.4% to NIS 294 million or US$78 million or NIS 1.89 per share from $290 million or $1.90 per share in the prior-year period. The increase is attributable primarily to the impact of the shifting of part of the Jewish holiday season from the fourth quarter of last fiscal to this fiscal's third quarter and the decrease in expenses for doubtful accounts.
Partner Communications' net revenue increased 1.6% to NIS 1.58 billion or US$418 million from NIS 1.55 billion in the year-earlier quarter. Service revenues decreased marginally by 0.8% to NIS 1.38 billion or US$365 million from NIS 1.39 billion due to lower outgoing voice revenues reflecting both competitive market conditions, lower roaming activity and the reduction in the billing interval as mandated by the Israeli Ministry of Communications. This was offset by increases in fixed line business revenues, cellular content and data revenues.
Data and content revenues, excluding SMS, reached NIS 145 million or US$38 million, accounting for 10.5% of service revenues, compared with NIS 142 million or 10.2% of service revenues in the year-ago period. Revenues from SMS services increased to NIS 108 million from NIS 85 million.
For the full-year, net profit totaled NIS 1.14 billion or US$302 million, a decrease of 4.8% from NIS 1.2 billion last year due to supplementary expenses related to ISP and fixed telephony services and impact of the economic downturn. Basic earnings per share or ADS was NIS 7.42 or US$1.97, a decrease of 3.8% from NIS 7.71 in the prior-year. Revenue declined 3.5% to NIS 6.1 billion or US$ 1.61 billion from NIS 6.3 billion.
Looking ahead, CFO Emanuel Avner, said, "In recent months, the Company has undertaken a wide-ranging efficiency and cost review, with the help of external consultants, with the aim of reducing operating costs. We are also beginning to see some early signs of an economic recovery. These two factors are mainly the basis for our expectation that profitability will be higher in 2010 than in 2009, providing that the regulatory and competitive environment evolve as currently anticipated."
PTNR is currently trading at $21.32, up $0.06 or 0.28%, on the Nasdaq.
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