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.
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%) - 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.
Revenues down sharply
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% |
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% |
Efforts to be maintained to control the scissor effect
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
Increased investments
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.
Payment to New Caledonia
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.