Eir CEO Oliver Loomes. Image: Eir
While the telco saw its revenue and customer base grow, its earnings dropped by 3pc to €591m.
Eir has reported multiple successes in its 2023 earnings, with growth in both revenue and customers across its services.
The company said its revenue for the year reached nearly €1.3bn and grew by 4pc or €52m compared to 2022. But this growth was hampered by rising costs.
Eir’s 2023 earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) dropped by 3pc in the same period to €591m. Meanwhile, the company’s annual operating costs rose by 3pc to €399m.
The telco attributed the EBITDA decline to a higher cost of sales from “increased commercial investment and revenue mix”.
Despite the rising costs, Eir CEO Oliver Loomes said 2023 was a year of “significant achievements across all facets” of the company’s operations. Eir recently passed the milestone of connecting 1.2m premises to its nationwide fibre-to-the-home network.
“The pace of this roll-out continues and Eir has now made it possible for more than 3m people across the country to access the latest technology and fastest download speeds to enhance how they live and work,” Loomes said.
The telecoms company reported growth across its customer base in the final quarter of 2023, as its fibre broadband customers grew by 3pc to 869,000 customers, while its postpay mobile base saw a 12pc increase rising to more than 1.1m customers.
The result marks a reversal of fortune for the company compared to its second quarter results for 2023, when its broadband customers dropped by 1pc or 13,000 customers.
Eir CFO Stephen Tighe said the company’s results towards the end of the year were “in line with expectations”.
“We saw growth across the Eir fibre broadband base and in total mobile customers, with a further increase seen in the multiplay bundling of Eir fixed households,” Tighe said. “Our solid commercial momentum is now delivering organic revenue growth on a consistent basis.”
Eir also said it is continuing to improve its customer care through new system deployments and process streamlining. A ComReg investigation in May 2023 found that Eir had overcharged an estimated 76,000 customers in the past, which resulted in a €2.45m fine.
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