Broadband Infraco CEO Puleng Kwele
State-owned entity Broadband Infraco hopes to turn earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortisation- (Ebitda-) positive within the next two years, CEO Puleng Kwele said this week.
This emerged after the company, which was recently transferred from the Department of Public Enterprises to operate under the auspices of the newly formed Department of Telecommunications and Postal Services, had shown signs of improvement during the year ended March 31, after widening its losses in the prior financial year.
For the year under review, Broadband Infraco posted an Ebitda loss of R36.14-million – a 55.5% improvement on the 12 months to March 2013.
Gross profit for the year was positive at R149.3-million, compared with the R65.1-million in 2013, while the company’s loss for the year contracted from R175-million in 2013 to R143-million in 2014.
Broadband Infraco had also significantly increased the cash flow generated from operations from R10.2-million in the prior year, to R328.7-million, and has reduced its cost of sales by R19.2-million to R153-million.
Revenue for the 2014 financial year rose 27.4% to R302.4-million.