Colt Group S.A. announced unaudited earnings results for the first quarter ended March 31, 2013. For the quarter, the company announced revenue of EUR 392.1 million compared to EUR 397.3 million for the same period a year ago. EBITDA was EUR 80.5 million compared to EUR 80.6 million for the same period a year ago. The decline in revenue was driven by a fall in voice revenue, principally due to regulatory rate cuts across Europe, partially offset by revenue growth in data and managed services. Fewer working days in first quarter of 2013 and currency movements provided further headwinds to headline revenue progression. EBITDA was flat compared to first quarter of 2012 with the reduction in revenue offset by continued tight control of costs. The cash outflow was EUR 54.2 million (compared to EUR 73.8 million for the same period a year ago) for the quarter reflects normal seasonal outflows, increased capital expenditure related to the company’s investment programme and restructuring payments in line with skills transformation programme which announced in December 2012. Capital expenditure for the first quarter of 2013 increased to EUR 81.2 million from EUR 75.8 million for the same period a year ago.

Colt Group S.A. announced the launch of Colt Ceano, a unique suite of converged information and communications technology services, across Europe. Colt Ceano will provide channel partners with a comprehensive range of on-demand ICT services for their SME customers within a single contract. Fully scalable and flexible, Colt Ceano allows partners and their customers to add or remove services via an online portal with speed and ease, without the need for upfront capital outlay on new hardware. The comprehensive portal enables partners to order, sell, configure and manage services to meet the individual requirements of their SME customers. Services include: virtual server, virtual desktop, security and infrastructure management, communication and collaboration applications, voice and internet access. Designed to provide a simplified approach to ICT delivery, Colt Ceano enables SMEs to source a full range of network, communications and cloud-based IT services from their preferred Colt channel partner. Furthermore, Colt Ceano means that businesses only pay for the services and capacity they need, safe in the knowledge that these can be scaled up and down as required. With new services added on an on-going basis, SMEs will continue to benefit from access to an expanding and innovative portfolio, hosted in Colt's datacentres. By reducing the cost and complexity associated with managing multiple IT suppliers, SMEs will be free to focus on what concerns them the most -- their core business. Colt Ceano will help Colt's channel partners serve the needs and delivery preferences of SMEs quickly and effortlessly, combining clear and competitive pricing with a wide range of business technology solutions from a single provider. Channel partners also have the option to widen the Colt provided portfolio with their own services and solutions. Colt Ceano is securely hosted within Colt's own datacentres, with extensive firewall and backup, underpinned by Colt's extensive pan-European fibre network, so partners and customers can be confident that their business-critical data is securely held with maximum availability, all guaranteed by Colt's service level agreements. Colt Ceano will be available to customers in Spain on April 10, 2013 and UK, France, Germany, Italy, Netherlands, Belgium, Austria, Switzerland and Portugal on April 23, 2013. The Colt Ceano portfolio offers a unique range of ICT services within a single contract, including: Business-grade Internet connectivity backed up by rigorous SLAs; IAS (Internet Access Services) Mobility to enable secure remote working; Advanced Voice and Voice-over-IP (VoIP) services for cost-effective calls; Managed Exchange 2010 email services; Microsoft Lync 2010 unified communications for presence, instant messaging, voice, video and online meetings; Microsoft SharePoint 2010 to support content management and document sharing; Soonr Workplace for the creation of virtual project workspaces accessible from anywhere; Virtual Servers and Infrastructure to enable remote infrastructure management; Hosted Virtual Desktop services, providing secure, centrally managed, personalized virtual desktops; Managed Virtual Firewalls and Web Security for improved protection from potential network threats; Cloud Backup and Disaster Recovery services to safeguard valuable business-critical data; Single management interface for ordering and modifying all of the above services.

Colt Presents at 4th Telco Cloud World Forum, Apr-16-2013 02:30 PM. Venue: The Lancaster Hotel, London, United Kingdom. Speakers: Jonathan Desmarais, Data Networking Specialist.