April 21, 2011

Sistema Shyam - Important Update by Satyakam Mishra


Sistema Shyam Q4 net loss at Rs 605 cr

Press Trust of India / New Delhi April 21, 2011, 15:03 IST


Sistema-Shyam Teleservice, a JV between Russian firm Sistema and India's Shyam group, today reported a net loss of Rs 605 crore during the fourth quarter ended December 31, 2010.

With this, the unlisted SSTL has become the first private telecom operator having a foreign partner to disclose their country specific financial performance.

The company had a net loss of Rs 383.9 crore in the same period a year ago, SSTL said in a release.

Consolidated revenues of the company rose to Rs 193.7 crore during the October-December period, against Rs 66.3 crore in the same quarter previous year, registering a growth of 192%.

In December 2010, the Russian government had made an equity investment in SSTL of Rs 2,698.8 crore for a stake of 17.14% in the company's share capital.

As of now the company's consolidated debt towards banks and financial Institutions stood at Rs 5,570.2 crore.

For the full year ended December 31, 2010, the company has posted a net loss of Rs 2,168.6 crore, against Rs 1,256.5 crore in the same year-ago period.

However, revenues of the company rose to Rs 523.9 crore for 2010 year against Rs 176.1 crore in the same period last year.

The company's mobile subscriber base for the quarter and year went up by 27% and 190% respectively totalling 8.4 million, while data card subscriber base for the quarter and year up by 65% and 61.9 times, respectively to a total of 0.43 million.

The capital expenditures investments made by SSTL in India to date stand at Rs 5,600 crore. This includes the investment of Rs 571 crore made for the FY10.

"The October to December 2010 quarter witnessed an improvement in the health and competitive scenario for the telecom market overall. Subscriber additions accelerated from the previous quarter to approximately 64.5 million connections overall," the released added.

After aforesaid issue of shares to Russian Federation (RF), Sistema continues to be the majority shareholder with 56.68% stake. The RF stake is 17.14% and the rest is with the Shyam Group.

The total FDI in SSTL owned by Russian parties (Sistema and the Russian Government) is well within FDI limit of 74%.

Satyakam Mishra

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