Getmobile makes profits of €2.7m after €54m loss

Dublin and London listed Getmobile increased sales by 58.5 per cent to €100.8 million last year according to preliminary results released yesterday.

The firm, which sells mobile phone contracts in the German market, turned around a €53.9 million loss in 2006 into a €2.7 million pre-tax profit last year.

The 2006 loss was due to a goodwill impairment charge of €55.6 million related to the €65 million reverse takeover of Getmobile by Fitzwilliam Capital, the AIM-quoted investment firm founded by venture capitalist and entrepreneur Pierce Casey.

At the end of the year Getmobile had net assets of €21.5 million and cash balances of €5.72 million.

Getmobile sold 138,700 phone contracts last year up from 105,00. Mr Casey who acts as chairman of the company said Getmobile would concentrate on expanding in Germany for the next year.

Mr Casey said internet sales doubled last year and the internet sales channel was becoming one of the most valuable parts of the business. Over 3 million people visited getmobile.de in March.

Getmobile has taken a 65 per cent stake in Premingo, a start-up which will start trading in the next three months and uses a similar model for the sale of a wider variety of household contracts such as insurance, broadband, credit cards and utilities.

Getmobile shares closed at £15.25 in London last night and are up over 40 per cent in the year to date. The company plans to pay a dividend of 1 cent per share.

© 2008 The Irish Times

This article appears in the print edition of the Irish Times