The Parlem teleoperator continues to grow and consolidate itself in the Catalan and Valencian telecommunications market. The group broke revenue records in the first half of the year by achieving a turnover of 16 million euros, 66.9% more than the 9.8 million achieved in the same period of the previous year.
However, the operator's losses increased to 5.66 million euros, from the 538,000 euros registered in the same period of the previous year. The group attributes the red numbers, in part, to the effect of amortizations. While the gross operating result (EBITDA) was negative 1.4 million, as a result of the expenses generated by the acquisitions of other companies -Ecolium and Infoself- and by the opening of new own stores, which will reach 28 by the end of year.
Despite this, the founder and CEO of the group, Ernest Pérez-Mas, has positively assessed the results in a "particularly difficult" context for the telecommunications sector, where there has been "a price war between operators low cost” and a decrease in the volume of market portability. Even so, during the first half of the year the number of contracted lines -including fixed and mobile telephony- of the operator increased by 22%, to 180,000, which confirms the "constant and robust organic growth" of the company, highlighted the cluster.
The forecast of the operator, which debuted on the stock market in June 2021, is that the price of the shares will recover with the improvement in the evolution of the stock market. "There has been a general decline in technology companies and we are no strangers", commented Pérez-Mas. In this sense, the price of the shares -about three euros- has fallen by half in the last year, although analysts consider that it is well below its real value, between six and seven euros. After knowing the results presented this Friday by the company, the shares have continued to fall sharply, around 8%.
In this sense, the company insists that its financial perspectives "are very good for the second semester", since it estimates that revenues will reach 20 million and the EBIDTA will be positive. In this regard, the group has managed to "renegotiate contracts" and "restructure the companies" that it has acquired, for which it expects an increase in gross operating profit of around 10% for next year and leave behind 'the red numbers' .
The operator's plans to update rates at the end of the year in accordance with the increase in the CPI, a measure that will be taken to cushion the rise in energy costs, chips and salaries, will also contribute to the improvement in results. For the end customer, the increase will be reflected in an increase of between two and three euros on the bill.
Regarding the expansion plans, the CEO of the group has admitted that it is possible that the increase in interest rates will slow them down, although he foresees two new acquisitions of local operators before the end of the year and does not rule out resuming the plans for increase capital by 2023. For now, the company will continue with the development of its Parlem Empreses division and the launch of the Parlem Energia division, through which it offers photovoltaic solar panels for self-consumption to residential and business customers, a business that represents 10% of the turnover of the cluster.
