Bangkok--29 Jul--Hill & Knowlton
"The trends from the first quarter of 2009 continued into this quarter, with a challenging business environment also affecting the telecom sector. In spite of pressure on the top line development our operations are improving their performance, resulting in a record high operating cash flow. At the end of the quarter, we reached a total of 168 million mobile subscriptions," said Jon Fredrik Baksaas, President and CEO of Telenor.
Strong growth and high margins
"Grameenphone in Bangladesh and Mobile Norway are delivering a particularly strong quarter, both in terms of revenue growth and margins. We are also happy to see that Telenor Pakistan this quarter reached its highest margins so far. During this quarter the margins and market positions in CEE remained strong and Kyivstar distributed dividends for 2006 and 2007. The Telenor portion amounted to NOK 2.1 billion (approximately 11 billion baht)," Baksaas said.
The Telenor brand launched in Denmark
"In June the Telenor brand was successfully launched in the Danish market. The rebranding will strengthen Telenor Denmark's ability to provide unified products and services, as well as creating a stronger company identity. In Sweden we continue to focus on improving efficiency. In addition to initiatives in sales and distribution channels, downsizing of staff has been announced and will be completed during the second half of 2009," Baksaas said.
Preparing for launch in India
"In India we are building our operation and preparing for launch. Key agreements are now in place, including GSM equipment and IT outsourcing, in addition to infrastructure sharing. We plan to launch services in five circles in the fourth quarter. The current roll-out plan is embedded in our updated outlook for 2009," Baksaas said.
New hearing in Siberia
"Our shares in VimpelCom are under arrest since 11 March 2009 related to the unfounded Farimex case. Telenor's appeal of previous rulings is scheduled to be heard in the Federal Court of Tyumen 30 September 2009," Baksaas said.
Revenues remain under pressure
"For the rest of the year we expect revenues to remain under pressure. We will continue to scale our business activities accordingly, while delivering a strong operating cash flow and sustaining our market positions," Baksaas said.
Key Figures
The table below contains pro forma key figures (including Kyivstar) for the second quarter of 2009, compared to the previous year:
(NOK in millions except earnings per share ; figures in brackets represent approximate value in Thai baht in millions except earnings per share) Q2 2009 Q2 2008 Year 2008
Revenues 26 923 (145) 27 058 (146) 109 970 (595)
EBITDA before other income and expenses 9 332 (50) 9 362 (51) 38 491 (208)
EBITDA margin before other income and expenses (%) 34.7 34.6 35.0
Adjusted operating profit 5 071 (27) 5 621 (30) 22 640 (123)
Adjusted operating profit/Revenues (%) 18.8 20.8 20.6
Profit after taxes and non-controlling interests 1 375 (7) 3 536 (19) 13 065 (71)
Earnings per share from total operations, basic, in NOK 0.83 (4.50) 2.11 (11.43) 7.83 (42.49)
Capex 3 249 (18) 6 386 (35) 22 715 (123)
Capex excl. licences and spectrum 3 249 (18) 4 836 (26) 20 680 (112)
Capex excl. licences and spectrum/Revenues (%) 12.1 17.9 18.8
Operating cash flow ( EBITDA before other income and expenses - Capex) 6 083 (33) 4 526 (24) 17 811 (96)
Net interest-bearing liabilities 34 728 (188) 35 702 (193) 39 309 (213)
For more information please refer to the quarterly report on
http://www.telenor.com/en/investor-relations/reports/q2-2009.
"As a long term industrial player, we are very pleased to see that the Telenor Group of companies in Asia deliver good results even in tough times. The second quarter figures reaffirm the importance of this region to Telenor and we are excited about continuing to be part of the development of the mobile industry in Asia," said Sigve Brekke, Executive Vice President and Head of the Telenor Asia Operations.
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
Glenn Mandelid, Communications Manager, Telenor Asia
Phone (+66) 82440 1122, E-mail: [email protected]
James Rowland-Jones, Senior Consultant, Hill and Knowlton (Thailand)
Phone (+66) 02 6273501 ext 206, E-mail: [email protected]