Three Ireland earnings drop last year as inflation and high energy costs hit

Earnings fell by 7% in 2022 to €175m, down from €188m in 2021

Three Ireland said it was satisfied with its 2022 financial performance considering inflation and high energy costs. 

Three Ireland’s earnings dropped by 7% in 2022 as inflationary and energy price increases impacted its financial performance.

In its annual reports, the company reported earnings of €175m — down from €188m in 2021 — before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation were taken into account. Revenue was up €41m last year, with Three Ireland reporting it was satisfied with the financial year.

The company said the drop in earnings was reflecting inflationary pressures on operational expenditure and energy costs increasing by more than 46%. It also cited a full year of eased lockdown restrictions offsetting positive margin growth.

Robert Finnegan, chief executive of Three Ireland and Three UK, said it was satisfied with its 2022 financial performance despite the additional impacts of inflation and soaring energy costs.

“We were pleased to see good growth in total revenue and margin by €41m, up 7%, and €15m, up 3%, respectively. As part of our sustainability strategy, we continued to invest in energy saving initiatives across the network infrastructure in 2022 which helped mitigate against energy inflation,” he said.

Three Ireland said it had seen a growth in customer bases, with a 13% increase in contract customers and a 1% increase in prepay customers.

The company said customer increases of 700,000 were largely driven by growth across internet of things — which describes a network of physical objects such as sensors that connect to the internet.

In Three Ireland’s case, this increase is due in part to the deployment of the ESB Smart Meter roll-out project countrywide. 

This 22% increase in customer numbers brings Three’s overall market share up to 42.8%.

Hong-Kong based conglomerate CK Hutchison Holdings Ltd — Three Ireland’s parent company — also reported an increase in revenue by 2.7% in 2022 to HK$457bn (€54.9bn).