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Board of Directors of 05/05/2021

A Board of Directors meeting, chaired by Yoann Lecourieux, was held on May 5 at the General Management Office and approved several deliberations. Among the major issues discussed and adopted was the review of the OPT-NC's financial results for fiscal year 2020.

Revenues for 2020 are down sharply. Operating expenses are down slightly. And yet, OPT-NC shows a clear positive result at the end of the year. Explanations.

1,084 billion FCFP
net revenue

Despite a sharp drop in revenues (-1.2 billion FCFP) due to the health and political context experienced by New Caledonia in 2020, net income amounted to 1.084 billion FCFP and remains largely positive. It is however mainly obtained by the exceptional operations carried out during the year on the OPT-NC subsidiaries with the merger of CITIUS within the office and the dissolution of FIPOSTE.

In millions FCFP 2020 2019 Variation

Turnover

- of which CA Télécom revenues (88%)
- of which Mail and Parcels revenues (9,5%)
- off which Financial Services revenues (2,5%)

- Other revenues

22 471
 

19 719

2 147

 

599

 

5

23 643
 

20 791

2 221

 

623

 

8

- 4,96%
 

- 5,16%

-3,31%

 

-3,87%

 

-29,8%

Recipes 24 678 25 541 -3,4%
Charges 23 594 24 411 -3,3%
Gross operating surplus (GOS) 7 806 8 886 -12,15%
Net income* (loss) 1 084 1 130 -4,12%
Investments 5 701 5 064 +12,6%
Cash flow from operations** 6 452 7 050 -8,48%

*Net income: the difference between total revenues and total expenses.
** Cash flow : ability of a company to generate cash from its internal resources in order to self-finance its investment projects.

OPT-NC's revenues fell sharply overall (-5%) and more particularly in the three business lines. The Telecom branch was significantly impacted by the decrease in international traffic linked to Covid-19 (-446 MFRF on roaming), price cuts on the backbone network (-332 MFRF) and the decrease in mobile prepaid services revenues due to the migration of customers to M packages (-139 MFRF).

The postal branch is also down due to the drop in mail and parcel flows and the postponement by two months of the postage rate increase.

Due to the strict measures applied in New Caledonia in 2020 to guard against the introduction of Covid-19, the number of tourists and professionals arriving in New Caledonia has fallen, leading to a sharp drop in international telephone consumption. The two price cuts granted to ISPs also had a strong impact on revenues, although this was partially offset by new capacity purchases by ISPs.

This sharp drop in revenues had a direct impact on corporate income tax (-$514 million), resulting in a 3.3% reduction in 2020 expenses. Other expense items also fell, including roaming (-167 million euros), advertising (-50 million euros) and mail and cash transportation (-24 million euros).

Product (en MFCFP) Actual 2018 Actual 2019 Achieved 2020 2020 vs 2019
Amount Variation
Sales figures 23 234 23 643 22 471 - 1 172 -5%
Capitalized production 663 661 630 -31 -5%
Current management income 330 566 390 -176 -31%
Financial income 166 157 324 +167 +106%
Extraordinary income 109 162 733 +571 +352%
Reversal of depreciation 197 352 129 -223 -63%
Total revenue 24 699 25 541 24 677 -864 -3,4%

 

Revenues by businesss line
(in MFCFP)
Actual 2018 Actual 2019 Achieved 2020 2020 vs 2019
Amount Variation
Telecom 20 404 20 791 19 719 -1 072 -5,2%
Mail 2 218 2 221 2 147 -74 -3,3%
Financial (bank)* 596 623 599 -24 -3,9%
Other 16 8 6 -2 -25%
Total sales 23 234 23 643 22 471 - 1 172 -5%

*The bank's "CA" portion, excluding "financial income" (interest on postal banking accounts and CNE savings accounts).

 

Expenses (in MFCFP) Actual 2018 Actual 2019 Achieved 2020 2020 vs 2019
Amount Variation
Purchasing 980 1 081 843 -238 -22%
External services 2 681 2 646 2 733 +87 +3%
Other external services 1 033 994 891 -103 -10%
Taxes 1 774 1 688 1 741 +53 +3%
Personnel costs 9 096 9 009 9 088 +79 +1%
Other current management expenses 1 627 1 289 1 067 -222 -17%
Financial expenses 168 147 406 +259 +176%
Extraordinary expenses 66 279 71 -208 -75%
Depreciations and provisions 6 509 6 236 6 220 -16 -0%
Incentive bonus 194 176 184 +8 +5%
Corporate income tax 291 865 351 -514 -59%
Total expenses 24 419 24 411 23 594 -815 -3,3%

In 2020, revenues are falling and cannot cover operating expenses. Revenues from the sale of the office's goods and services do not cover the expenses necessary for their production, requiring continued efforts to control expenses in order to contain the scissor effect.

If the amount of profit realized by the office in fiscal year 2020 is of the same level as in 2019, this is mainly due to the integration of the exceptional CITIUS merger operations in the OPT-NC accounts.

In light of these elements, OPT-NC remains vigilant about controlling its financial balance in 2021, a year once again marked by the constraints experienced in 2020, including

  • a turnover that is not expected to increase,
  • the impact of the accompanying measures taken by the OPT-NC as part of the second lockdown,
  • operating expenses that will increase as of the second half of the year with the AML/CFT (Anti-Money Laundering and Combating the Financing of Terrorism) compliance measures for our financial services.

GOOD TO KNOW !

The weight of expenses that are difficult to reduce (personnel costs, subsidies, profit-sharing and corporate income tax) in relation to operating income is 41%. What does this mean?

For every 100 F collected, the office consumes nearly 41 F of mandatory operating expenses

There has been an increase in investments, 5.7 billion FCFP compared with 5.0 billion FCFP in 2019 (+12.6%), mainly linked to the initialization phase of the deployment of the new submarine cable. It should be noted that investments will be even higher in 2021 as the cable will be in its implementation phase.

The Board of Directors examined the government's request to transfer part of OPT-NC's 2020 net income to the New Caledonian budget.

In the difficult situation linked to the health crisis and its impact on the local economy that the territory is going through, the current financial data of the OPT-NC show its capacity to respond favorably to the government's request without compromising its investment policies and price reductions, even if vigilance is required with regard to its major financial balances.

The Board of Directors voted in favor of a payment of 812 million FCFP to New Caledonia, the supervisory authority of OPT-NC, out of the 2020 net income of 1.084 billion FCFP. The OPT-NC thus confirms its place in the New Caledonian economic landscape and its role as a responsible and supportive public actor.