BEVELGACOM'S VISION CONSOLIDATED KEY FIGURES SIGNIFICANT FACTS FOR 1996 LETTER FROM THE CHAIRMAN OF THE BOARD MESSAGE FROM THE CEO FURTHER GROWTH IN GROUP EARNINGS FOR 1996 KEY FIGURES FOR THE GROUP GENERAL INFORMATION 1996 ANNUAL REPORT ORDER FORM

Further growth in Group earnings for 1996 Turnover  In 1996, Bevelgacom had a turnover of 138.7 billion BEF which represents an increase of 9.1% over the previous financial year. This increase in turnover primarily reflects continued growth in our mobile telephone business (+46.6%), an increase in national telephone services (+9.6%) through ISDN, subscription fees and mobile services traffic, as well as an increase in international telephone services (+2.2%) in spite of increasingly present competition. Group (in millions of BEF) 1994 1995 1996 Growth for   95/96 in % National telephone services 60,174 66,251 72,621 9.6 International telephone services 20,857 21,154 21,620 2.2 Mobile com. services (1) 8,597 12,298 18,034 46.6 Terminals 7,409 7,352 7,268 (1.1) Other activities (2) 19,993 20,083 19,155 (4.6) Total 117,030 127,139 138,697 9.1 (1) includes income from mobile phones, paging systems, pay phones and the Bevelgacom calling card. (2) includes income from leased lines, data transmission, videotext, value-added services and directory business. Operating cash flow Operating cash flow amounted to 59.8 billion BEF, i.e. 43.1% of the turnover for the financial year, an increase of 15.3% over 1995. Operating profit Operating profit amounted to 26.7 billion BEF, an increase of 30% over 1995. This growth is due to the major increase in turnover coupled with an increase in operating charges limited to 4.2%. Financial results Since the Pension Fund was created, financial income no longer includes investment income from pension reserves which are now managed by the Pension Fund. Financial income, therefore, decreased from 2 billion BEF in 1995 to 0.5 billion in 1996. Financial expenses have continued to decrease, from 6.5 billion BEF in 1995 to 5.6 billion BEF in 1996, a decrease of 14%. This is primarily due to a drop in interest rates, changes in the structure of our company's financial debt and new methods of financing. The table below illustrates improvements in our financial structure. It should be noted here that between 1992 and 1996, our solvency ratio was lowered from 3 to 1.3. Income statement (in millions of BEF) 1994 1995 1996 (A) Shareholders' equity and third party interests 54,406 64,353 71,777 (B) Financial debts 98,328 91,050 90,379 - short term 22,970 16,385 27,431 - long term 75,358 74,665 62,948 Solvency 1.8 1.4 1.3 Extraordinary results Extraordinary income amounting to 1.6 billion BEF in 1996 include the balance to be received on the purchase price paid by AirTouch in 1994 pursuant to the stock acquisition agreement involving Bevelgacom Mobile on one hand, and the capital gain from the sale of our shares in Infonet and Interpac Belgium S.A. on the other. Extraordinary expenses amounting to 3 billion BEF in 1996 can primarily be explained by the exceptional depreciation of switching software which has been decommissioned. Net profit Net profit (group share) for the 1996 financial year reached a record level of 13 billion BEF, an increase of 21% over 1995 and significantly higher than the 10% increase in 1995 over 1994. Investments and free cash flow Bevelgacom is still one of the major investors in Belgium. In 1996, our net investments decreased to an average level of 28 billion BEF following a period of high investments over previous years. These investments primarily involved the continued digitization of our fixed-line network, optimization of the transmission network, modernization and expansion of our mobile phone network and the fitting-out of the Bevelgacom Towers which house the group's headquarters. In spite of these investments, Bevelgacom Group still had 1.2 billion BEF in 1996 before financing activities to pay off its debts as illustrated by the table below. Group (in millions of BEF) 1994 1995 1996 Network and equipment 27,707 28,316 (1) 28,812 Real estate 2,313 3,366 2,373 Shares in other businesses 143 80 1,118 Other 2,751 (2) 12,284 1,806 Total 32,914 44,046 34,109 (1) including cross-border leasing operation for 4.7 billion BEF (2) including Bevelgacom Mobile license for 9 billion BEF Group (in millions of BEF) 1994 1995 1996 Cash flow operating (1) 38,728 42,401 40,210 + change in working capital requirements 3,171 4,564 (11,217) = Net cash flow operating activities 41,899 46,965 28,993 - Investments (32,914) (44,046) (34,109) + sale of fixed assets 669 165 6,252 + sale of shares in affiliated companies 706 0 80 - Consolidation and conversion variance 0 0 (51) = Free cash flow before financing activities (available net balance) 10,360 3,084 1,165 (1) net profit - dividends and percentages - employees� share in the profit + noncash expenses About | Products | Jobs | Contact | Home © 1997 BEVELGACOM. Last updated : may, 30, 1997. About this site Say Hello ! Legal Notice.