BURNABY, BC – Smart phones and higher-end multimedia devices helped to drive up Glentel’s consolidated sales by 33% in its first quarter.
The telecom retailer posted sales of $67.44 million for the quarter ended March 31, 2009, compared to $50.72 million in the same period last year. Operating income before interest and taxes increased to $3.51 million versus $397,000 in 2008.
"We are very excited about these financial results in a quarter that is seasonally our weakest quarter of the year," said president and CEO Thomas Skidmore, in the press release. "The investment we continue to make in professional training, coupled with a smart phone multi-media marketing focus, has yielded a superb financial result in the midst of a soft economy and lack of consumer confidence."
Its retail division saw sales of mobile phone products and services grow 40% to $57.82 million for the quarter, “due to the success of smart phone technology”, while higher-end multimedia devices drove post-paid activations. Growth in sales was also driven by the division operating 252 stores during the quarter, compared to 227 stores in the same period of 2008. Glentel operates under the trading names Glentel Wireless, WirelessWave, The Telephone Booth (Tbooth and la cabine T) and WIRELESS etc. stores in Costco Wholesale stores.
The company’s business division sales of terrestrial narrowband and broadband radio systems, satellite network services, and implementation services, increased by only 3% to $9.62 million for the quarter, and gross margins were reduced by 5 percentage points as the division was "significantly impacted" by the economic slowdown. Operating income before interest and taxes for the quarter was a loss of $93,000 compared to income of $221,000 in 2008.
