Hrvatski Telekom (HT) generated 7.4 billion kuna (€979 million) in total consolidated net revenue in 2020, a decrease of 3.2 percent from 2019, while net profit fell by 20.5 percent to 588 million kuna (€78 million), the telecom reported on Wednesday.

The company said its financial results were affected by the challenging business environment following the outbreak of the coronavirus pandemic.

EBITDA after loans fell by 170 million kuna (€22.5 million) or 5.9 percent due to decreases at both HT Group in Croatia and Crnogorski Telekom in Montenegro, mainly resulting from the impact of the pandemic. However, after six quarters of decline, EBITDA after loans returned to growth in the fourth quarter of 2020, increasing by 1.2 percent from 2019.

Despite the challenging environment, HT said they will continue with investment projects worth more than 1.8 billion kuna (€238 million), continuing to reinvest 25 percent of its revenue and investing three times more than the rest of the market combined, the company said. It accelerated the fiber-optic roll-out across the country and launched the first commercial 5G network.

(€1 = 7.56 kuna)