Stet plans ASE listing
Mobile phone operator Stet Hellas said it plans to list on the Athens Stock Exchange when the market has improved, in a bid to raise between 44 to 88 million euros to fund investments in third-generation services and improve economic indicators. The company is currently listed on the Nasdaq and the Amsterdam Stock Exchange. Nicholas Varsakis, managing director, said the company has prepared for the move and has only delayed the flotation because of the «bad juncture.» He said a listing would probably involve a share capital increase in the range of 44 to 88 million euros. Proceeds from the flotation would be used to finance the company’s 3G services and to upgrade its financial standing. Stet Hellas and the other two mobile phone operators, CosmOTE and Vodafone (formerly Panafon), acquired universal mobile phone licences in 2000. 3G services are due to be launched in Greece in 2004 to coincide with the Olympic Games. Shokat Thobani, chief financial officer, said the company is projecting earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) growth of 30 percent this year and total revenue growth of about 16 percent. Consolidated EBITDA in the first quarter of 2002 went up by 20.4 percent to 47.1 million euros and group revenues by 19.1 percent to 144.7 million euros. Group operating revenues improved by 24.1 percent to 23.2 million euros while consolidated pretax profits soared to 18.9 million euros, up 25.8 percent. The results included phone retail chain Telepolis. Subscribers in the first quarter of the year increased by 24.8 percent year-on-year to 2.2 million. New net additions amounted to 63,078, of which 39,498 were contract customers. Stet Hellas’s first-quarter results showed the big gap between the company and the other two mobile phone operators, said Constantinos Karitsos, telecoms analyst at Intersec. First in the market, Stet Hellas has, in the last couple of years, found itself in third place, overtaken by its more aggressive competitors. Varsakis said the Greek market still has scope for growth despite an estimated 70-percent penetration rate. Stripping out an estimated 20 percent of inactive subscribers, the actual rate is much lower, he said. He said Stet Hellas is set to pay a dividend of 9 cents for 2001, its first, which will see the company return a total of 7.5 million euros to shareholders.
