Bangkok--7 May--Hill and Knowlton
"In the first quarter of 2009, the Telenor Group delivered stable organic revenues and an EBITDA margin in line with our outlook for 2009. We have managed to reduce capex and costs, resulting in a strong cash flow margin in a challenging business environment. Particularly Telenor Norway and Grameenphone in Bangladesh are delivering strong performance," said Jon Fredrik Baksaas, President and CEO of Telenor.
Turbulent business environment
"The business environment continues to be turbulent and we now experience some impact on the telecom sector, in particular influencing international traffic. However, the total traffic volumes are relatively stable. Among our markets, the Ukrainian economy is being the most affected by the financial crisis. In spite of negative revenue development, Kyivstar continues to deliver high margins and defend its strong revenue market share," Baksaas said.
Alfa conflict escalated
"During the first quarter of 2009 there was an escalation in the conflict with Alfa Group, with the arrest of our VimpelCom shares as a consequence. On 3 April 2009 Telenor was officially served with a claim to pay USD 1.7 billion in alleged damages. Telenor regards the claim to be unfounded, and expects to be fairly treated by higher courts," Baksaas said.
India - a milestone for the Telenor Group
"The closing of the Unitech Wireless deal in India on 20 March 2009 marks a milestone for the Telenor Group. An experienced management team is in place, and is currently preparing for launch of services during the second half of 2009," Baksaas said.
Scaling our business activities
"Going forward we expect the trends in the macro economic environment to continue and we are therefore highly focused on scaling our business activities accordingly. We are currently evaluating and implementing efficiency programmes across the value chain to achieve sustainable cash flow improvements. We maintain our outlook for 2009," Baksaas said.
Key figures
The table below contains pro forma key figures (including Kyivstar) for the first quarter of 2009, compared to the previous year:
First quarter Year
(NOK in millions except earnings per share) 2009 2008 2008
Revenues 27 119 26 292 110 997
EBITDA before other income and expenses 9 268 9 230 38 362
EBITDA margin before other income and expenses (%) 34.2 35.1 34.6
Adjusted operating profit 5 035 5 545 22 495
Adjusted operating profit/Revenues (%) 18.6 21.1 20.3
Profit after taxes and non-controlling interests 1 622 4 571 13 065
Earnings per share from total operations, basic, in NOK 0.98 2.72 7.83
Capex 3 291 5 089 22 715
Capex excl. licences and spectrum 3 291 5 089 20 680
Cash flow (EBITDA before other income and expenses - Capex) 5 977 4 141 15 647
Net interest-bearing liabilities end of period 35 783 31 340 39 309
For more information please refer to the quarterly report on
http://www.telenor.com/en/investor-relations/reports/q1-2009.
Sigve Brekke, Head of Telenor’s Asia operations said “Telenor Asia recorded over 66 million customers in Asia during the first quarter of 2009, strengthening Telenor’s position as a leading regional player.”
Telenor GroupTelenor is one of the world’s largest mobile operators, and one of the fastest growing providers of mobile communications services worldwide. The company is also among the largest providers of TV, broadband and telephony services in the Nordic region.
Telenor has mobile operations in some of the world's fastest growing markets as well as in the most advanced markets. The company holds altogether ownership interests in mobile operations in 12 countries, constituting a total subscription base of more than 159 million. In Asia, Telenor has ownership interests in DiGi (Malaysia), DTAC (Thailand), Grameenphone (Bangladesh) and Telenor Pakistan.
For more information, please visit www.telenor.com
For further information, please contact
Esben Tuman, Communications Manager, Telenor Asia
Phone (+66) 859 184 111, E-mail: [email protected]
James Rowland-Jones, Senior Consultant, Hill and Knowlton (Thailand)
Phone (+66) 02 6273501 ext 206, E-mail: [email protected]