NOS profits soar 85% to €148.6 million on the back of €53 million sale
Telecoms operator Nos closed the first half of the year with a net profit of €148.6 million, a figure that compares to the €80.5 million posted like-for-like in 2023 (+84.6%).
The bumper result was partly down to a one-off cash net of €53.1 million generated by the sale of telecommunications towers to Spain’s Cellnex, according to the company led by Miguel Almeida on Thursday. Without accounting for this capital gain, profits would have stood at €95.4 million, which represents a growth of 18.6% on H1, 2023.
The group’s consolidated revenues grew by 5.2% to €815.5 million, and telecommunications revenues increased by 5.8% to €789.6 million, driven by the increase in the number of services, the company said in a note sent to the Portuguese Securities Market Commission (CMVM).
Cinema and audiovisual revenues fell 5.7% to €42.4 million, with the absence of blockbusters penalising the second quarter of the year, the company said.
With regard to consolidated EBITDA, the company posted an increase of 5.5% compared to the first half of 2023, to €372.1 million, with the telecommunications segment growing 6.5% to €352.8. Supporting the growth in revenues was the increase in the number of services, which rose by 262,000 compared to the same period last year, reaching 11.142 million, according to the company.
The first half of the year was marked by a reinforcement of the operator’s commitment to 5G. NOS invested 22.1% of telecommunications revenues in the first half of the year, with total investment reaching €185.1 million.
“In the first half of the year, NOS completed significant investments in setting up the best and most extensive 5G network in Portugal. With a coverage that reaches more than 96.5% of the population, we maintain a clear leadership in the development and implementation of this technology”, states CEO Miguel Almeida in the H1 results, which he considers “solid”.
Miguel Almeida added that NOS had been stepping up the company’s technology transformation program, based on widespread use of artificial intelligence to optimise internal processes and raise operational efficiency to higher levels, thereby offsetting a growth in costs over revenues.”