Maroc Telecom Group said consolidated revenues in the financial year ended 31 December 2018 reached MAD 36.03 billion, up 3.1 percent from MAD 34.96 billion in 2017. This was mainly due to sustained revenue growth in Morocco, driven by the increase in usage and the data customer base, combined with the increase of new subsidiaries. At the end of 2018, the group's customer base was nearly 61 million customers, up 6.5 percent year-on-year, driven by strong growth in both the mobile and fixed line broadband bases in Morocco, as well as in subsidiaries' mobile customer bases.
Full-year EBITDA amounted to MAD 17.86 billion, up 4.1 percent from the previous year's MAD 17.16 billion thanks to the strong EBITDA growth in Morocco. The EBITDA margin increased by 0.5 percentage points to 49.6 percent from 2017’s 49.1 percent, thanks to the group's efforts to control operating costs and the favourable impact of lower mobile call termination at its subsidiaries. Net income rose sharply by 2.3 percent to MAD 6.01 billion from MAD 5.87 billion in 2017 due to business growth in Morocco and a favourable base effect, after restructuring charges recorded in 2017.
Capital expenditure excluding licences and frequencies amounted to MAD 5.92 billion for the group, a significant decrease of 26.1 percent compared with 2017. This was 16.4 percent of revenues, versus 22.9 percent for 2017. The optimisation of development projects and synergies found within the group enabled this reduction while improving network coverage and quality of service, both in Morocco and in the subsidiaries. The cost of new licences acquired in Mali and Togo amounted to MAD 719 million in 2018.
Adjusted cash flow from operations (CFFO) amounted to MAD 9.98 billion, down 9.4 percent year-on-year. The supervisory board of Maroc Telecom will propose to the general shareholders' meeting on 23 April an ordinary dividend of MAD 6.83 per share, up 5.4 percent over 2017, or a total amount of MAD 6.0 billion. This dividend corresponds to 100 percent of the group share of net income. This dividend payment would made on 04 June.
On the basis of recent changes in the market, if there are no new major exceptional events, Maroc Telecom is projecting stable revenues, stable EBITDA, and capex of about 15 percent revenues excluding frequencies and licences in 2019 at constant scope and exchange rates.
In Maroc Telecom's operations in Morocco, revenue amounted to MAD 21.41 billion, up 4.6 percent, thanks to the growth of data mobile customer base, whose revenue increased by 39.2 percent compared with the same period in 2017. EBITDA reached MAD 11.46 billion, up 6.1 percent thanks to the increase in revenues.
The EBITDA margin increased by 0.8 percentage points to 53.5 percent thanks to the 0.5 percentage points improvement in the gross margin and the control of operating costs. On 31 December 2018, the mobile customer base numbered 19.1 million customers, up 2.9 percent year-on-year, thanks to the 12.8 percent rise of postpaid customers and the 1.8 percent rise of prepaid customers.
The group's international operations generated revenues of MAD 16.04 billion, up 2.0 percent year-on-year driven by the 5.1 percent growth in revenues of new subsidiaries which offset the impacts of the erosion of incoming international traffic and of mobile call termination decrease.
International EBITDA amounted to MAD 6.50 billion, up 0.6 percent. The EBITDA margin was 39.9 percent, down 0.5 percentage points, hit by regulatory taxes and fees. Excluding this impact, the EBITDA margin grew by 0.6 percentage to 41.0 percent. Adjusted cash flow from operations (CFFO) from international activities amounted to MAD 2.48 billion, down by 32.9 percent.
