Financial Results for the Year Ended 31 December 2008

27/06/2009

EBT Mobile China plc, a leading China-based retailer of mobile phone products and services, has announced its results for the year ended 31 December 2008 in May 2008.  The half year report of 2009 will be announced in the second week of August 2009.  The key highlights of 2008 are as follows.  

Key Highlights of 2008

• number of stores to 250 at the end of 2008 (2007: 257);
• revenue was RMB589.9m (£59.7m) (2007: RMB628.1m (£63.6m));
• gross margin increased to 13.6% in 2008 (2007:11.8%);
• profit after tax was RMB0.5m (£0.9m) (2007: RMB12.6m loss (£1.3m));
• started cooperation with Apple in China; and
• the Company was delisted from AIM of London Stock Exchange in December 2008 via tender offer.

*     figures in £ are for illustrative purposes only, all translated using the RMB:£ 2008 year end exchange rate of 9.8798.

**   cash figures excludes a restricted deposit of RMB32.6m in 2008 (2007: RMB RMB32.1m) for standby letter of credit, which was disclosed as deposits and prepayments.

*** The financial information set out above does not constitute the company's statutory accounts for the years ended 31 December 2008 or 2007, but is derived from those accounts. Statutory accounts for 2007 and 2008 have been delivered to the Registrar of Companies. The auditors have reported on those accounts; their reports were unqualified, did not draw attention any matters by way of emphasis without qualifying their reports and did not contain statements under s237(2) or (3) Companies Act 1985.

Zhang Ge, CEO of EBT said, “2008 was a challenging year to EBT in light of the challenges of the fourth quarter resulting from the global economic slowdown, the catastrophic earthquake in Sichuan province in the second quarter (that impacted the Company’s growth and expansion plans), and the extreme weather conditions during the Spring Festival (which adversely affected sales during the first quarter).  But through our improvements in operating strategy and focus, we managed to increase our gross profit even though our revenue was negatively affected by operating environment in 2008.

“The combination of skillful management of EBT’s cash and the controlled expansion of its network, has positioned EBT to exploit opportunities, gain market share and enhance margins as the macro environment improves. As a result EBT is today stronger than it has ever been.

“EBT is firmly committed to continuing its long-term strategy of expanding its existing wireless retail platform by both entrenching our existing position in current markets and expanding into new ones.”

For more information contact:

¨         The audited annual report of 2008 is mailed to the registered addresses of all shareholders.

¨         If shareholders need electronic copy of the full report of 2008, please send your request to the following email address: investor@ebtmobile.com.cn, together with your Crest ID, name of shareholders (or nominee's name) and number of shares holdings.  After the verification, we will send the report in due course.