PARTNER REPORTS: REVENUES GREW in Q1 BY 3% TO NIS 833 MILLION AND PROFIT WAS CUT TO NIS 5 MILLION

Just before the change of the company's CEOs, when Avi Zvi replaces Itzik Benvenisti, Partner reports this morning on its financial results in the first quarter of the year, which show that the trend continues to increase in the company's customers in the fixed segment and this is reflected in increased revenues.
Partner's revenues in the first quarter of the year grew by 3% to NIS 833 million. By segmentation, Partner recorded a 2% decrease in revenues from cellular services, partly as a result of the corona crisis that reduced the company's revenues from roaming services.
The company's revenues from the sale of cellular equipment increased by 10% compared to the corresponding quarter last year. The decrease in revenue was overshadowed by the continued decrease in the average monthly income per subscriber, at a rate of 9% (compared with the corresponding quarter), which was NIS 48. The number of the company's cellular subscribers jumped by 8% to 2.9 million.
In the fixed segment, Partner recorded a 78% increase in the number of Internet subscribers on the company's fiber network, which amounted to approximately 155,000 households - an increase of 10,000 additional households since the end of the quarter.

The company's number of TV subscribers grew by 17% to 234,000 - only 20,000 fewer subscribers than rival Cellcom TV, which entered the market two years earlier. The company's revenues from fixed communications services increased by 6% compared to the corresponding quarter last year to NIS 260 million. A similar growth was also recorded in revenues from the sale of equipment, which amounted to NIS 34 million.
Partner's operating profit fell by 22% to NIS 28 million. EBITDA shrank by 3% to NIS 209 million. Tamir said that Partner's CFO commented on the decline, saying that "the corresponding quarter last year was positively affected by the repayment of NIS 20 million paid to Bezeq during previous years, following a regulatory decision. "Excluding the return, EBITDA grew by 7% in the face of continued streamlining efforts and maintaining budgetary discipline."
In the bottom line, Partner recorded a net profit of NIS 5 million, a decrease of 50% compared to the corresponding quarter last year.
"We are continuing with the rapid retirement of Partner's independent fiber infrastructure across the country, and have recently begun to retire in low-rise and ground-level localities. Partner Faber's infrastructure currently reaches more than 840,000 households, of which 545,000 are in buildings already connected to the infrastructure," he noted. Itzik Benvenisti, outgoing Partner CEO.