Interoute’s growth in 2009 defies the recession once again

Increased take up of enterprise communication services and new continental connectivity boosts operational profitability for Europe’s largest next generation network operator

Geneva on 20 May 2010

Interoute Communications Ltd, owner operator of Europe’s largest next-generation network, today announced EBITDA of €40 million for 2009, an increase of 62 per cent on 2008. Despite the most severe recessionary conditions since the Great Depression, Interoute increased its revenues by nine per cent during 2009 to report €269 million and generated net cash surpluses in two of the last three quarters. The company plans to utilise this liquidity to grow its market share through targeted acquisitions and continued investment in telecommunications service innovation and the continued purchase of cutting edge, efficient and green transmission technologies.

In the last fiscal year, Interoute experienced a strong demand for both its network centric ICT solutions in the cloud and its IT infrastructure as a service offering. Interoute’s ownership of the largest European next-generation network uniquely enables it to launch new services with virtually no increase in its network and operating costs – firmly positioning it at the forefront of the cloud computing market. Having the largest duct and fibre reserves across Europe made it possible to double the network’s active capacity between 2008 and 2009 in response to the increasing demand from customers that high capacity bandwidth should be the standard. Interoute’s expansion during 2009 also included landing two new sub sea cable systems, East and South Africa’s SEACOM cable and North Africa’s Hannibal cable. The Company also extended south into Turkey.

Commenting on the results Emad Ghanipour, Country Manager of Interoute managed Services Switzerland, said, “We have taken what was once seen as an ambitious network project – the establishment of Europe’s largest fibre network – and created an asset that enables us to introduce new telecoms offerings and a range of innovative services, with only a limited extra cost to our business. This vision of a single advanced fibre optic network started to pay off in 2008, when Interoute became operationally profitable for its first full year and we have built on this success to grow EBITDA by 62 percent in 2009. Looking forward to 2010, we are excited about the opportunities that our growing cash reserves have created for us. We look to focus on acquiring assets that will help us continue to grow our revenues and market share.”

Owned by majority shareholder the Sandoz Family Foundation, and Tecom a subsidiary of Dubai Holding, Interoute’s £2.7 billion next-generation network, which runs from London to Istanbul and Stockholm to Sicily, has enabled it to meet burgeoning communications demands from enterprises across Europe and into emerging European Union countries, as well as the Middle East and Africa. Capable of rapidly increasing capacity at a low cost due to its ownership of European fibre reserves and investment in new and efficient transmission technologies, Interoute is well positioned to meet the increasing demand for complex network services that require large bandwidth.

Interoute offers all the elements of modern telecommunications from the ground to the cloud. Starting with the building block elements of modern network services like Duct and Fibre, Interoute’s product portfolio extends to the most advanced network centric solutions, including Virtual Private Networks (VPN), security services and voice and content management services. The Company has a strong culture of innovation, the most recent result of which is the launch of Interoute’s advanced set of communications tools for enterprises, including service developments for connectivity, communication and computing, called Interoute Unified ICT.

Interoute’s network serves as a global bridge between the North and South and East and West. With high-capacity links to the US, an operational point-of-presence in the Middle East and eight subsea landing stations ringing the edge of Europe, Interoute acts as the European link for operators from the Middle East, Africa and North America.

Sources PricewaterhouseCoopers Audited Accounts, 31 December 2009

About Interoute

Interoute is the owner/operator of Europe’s most advanced and densely connected voice and data network, encompassing over 55,000 km of lit fibre, 8 Data Centres, 32 purpose-built colocation centres and on-net to another 150 partner Data Centres across the European footprint. Interoute’s full-service next generation network serves international enterprises from a broad range of sectors including aerospace, automotive, finance, pharmaceutical and retail, plus every major European incumbent, as well as the major operators of North America, East and South Asia, governments, universities and research agencies. These organisations find Interoute the ideal partner for hosting content, providing wholesale bandwidth and transit services, corporate connectivity or creating new services. With established operations throughout mainland Europe, in North America and Dubai, Interoute also owns and operates dense city networks throughout Europe’s major business centres. Providing service and support in 15 European languages, Interoute is a key part of Europe’s Digital Supply Chain. The network is future-proofed, endowed with Europe’s largest fibre and duct reserve, and is a leader in the deployment of advanced network technologies, from the ground to the Cloud. www.interoute.ch