Bezeq Israeli Telecommunication Co. Ltd. (TASE: BEZQ) released disappointing third quarter financials this morning. Quarterly revenue totaled NIS 2.30 billion, which compares with NIS 2.42 billion in the corresponding quarter of 2017, representing a decline of 4.7%.
Bezeq posted a net profit of NIS 234 million in the third quarter of 2018, down 27.3% in comparison with the NIS 322 million profit in the third quarter of 2017. The decline in net profit was mainly because of lower operating profit, partially offset by a lower tax expense.
Operating profit for the third quarter of 2018 was NIS 429 million, 21.1% lower than the NIS 544 million operating profit in the third quarter of 2017. EIBTDA was NIS 976 million (42.4%), which compares with NIS 980 million (40.6%) in the corresponding quarter, down 0.4%.
In the previous quarter, revenue totaled NIS 2.3 billion, down 5.3% in comparison with the corresponding quarter of 2017, explained by a fall in revenue in the group's main segments, apart from fixed-line telecommunications, in which revenue was stable.
Bezeq's share price is currently down nearly 2% on the Tel Aviv Stock Exchange.
Bezeq chairman Shlomo Rodav said, "We continue to make progress in implementing the Bezeq group's new strategic plan, which takes in the activities of all the companies. The plan provides a response to all the challenges facing the group and to the future needs taking shape in the telecommunications market, within the complex regulatory constraints placed on the company.
"We have recently entered into negotiations with the unions in the subsidiary companies in order to allow, by consent, streamlining measures in the Yes, Pelephone, and Bezeq International subsidiaries. The company is also carrying out an orderly examination of the question of setting up an ultra high-speed Internet infrastructure based on optic fiber, in consultation with the regulator. Bezeq is the only company capable of taking Israel to a next generation communications network deployed nationwide."
Published by Globes, Israel business news - en.globes.co.il - on November 20, 2018
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