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The most striking figure in the company's fourth quarter results was its earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortisation, which hit EUR1.7 million, up 430 percent over the third quarter. And over the last four quarters, the company has recorded substantial improvements in gross margins from 19 percent in its first quarter to 41 percent in Q4.
"One of our main focuses has been on efficiency," Liam Young, chief executive officer of Conduit, told ElectricNews.Net. "There is not a single piece of our operation that we haven't revised, reviewed and looked at very closely to improve efficiencies."
With most of its figures coming in ahead of expectations, Conduit said revenue came to nearly EUR15 million, compared to EUR9.5 million last year. Meanwhile, its loss from operations fell to just EUR27,000, compared with EUR3.8 million in the same period a year earlier. Profits before income tax and minority interest reached EUR172,000 compared to losses before the same items of EUR3.5 million in Conduit's fourth quarter in 2001.
On a per-share basis, Conduit had earnings of EUR0.004, compared to loss of EUR0.16 for the same period in 2001. Importantly, total operating expenses remained flat year-on-year at around EUR6.1 million.
For the full year, Conduit's revenues were up by almost EUR22 million, reaching EUR52.3 million. However, losses from operations as well as losses before tax and minority interest worsened by EUR0.79 million and EUR1.60 million respectively to reach 8.4 million and EUR8 million in the two categories.
The company, which operates directory assistance services in the UK, Ireland, Switzerland and Austria, said that it now holds over 11 percent market share in the UK, its biggest market. "Our goal is to have around 20 percent market share in the UK over the next two years," Young explained. He also highlighted the fact that Conduit now handles over 50 percent of the UK's mobile directory assistance calls, through arrangements with Orange and other mobile operators.
Earlier this year Conduit said it would make a cash payment of EUR4 million to buy out the remaining 45 percent stake in its UK subsidiary, 118 Limited, from Sonera Media Holdings.
On 21 May 2002, Oftel allocated access codes for the UK directory assistance market and Conduit was allocated the access code "118899" in this process. That new number will launch later this year, Young said, and the existing directory enquiry number 192 is planned to be withdrawn in August 2003. In Ireland, Conduit operates the "11 850" directory assistance number as well as directory assistance for Esat and O2.
In discussing the company's drive for greater levels of efficiency, Young highlighted the firm's 83 percent jump in call volumes to 82.6 million calls over the last 12 months, whilst maintaining a relatively stable headcount at 1,408 currently, up by just over 50 from this time last year.
Finally, Young told ElectricNews.Net that the firm will be revising its earnings estimates upwards following the good results, but he did not give specific figures on just what the company would forecast. Additionally, the Conduit chief said that the company is considering moving its primary listing from the Neuer Markt in Germany to the London stock exchange, "to better reflect the firm's operations and investor base." However he stressed the fact that no final decision has been made on the move.
Following the release of Conduit's results, its shares were substantially higher in Germany, up by over 7.5 percent to EUR2.17 in early trading.
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