Telenor Group Q1 2013: Improved margins with stable revenues

29-4-2013 — /europawire.eu/ — In the first quarter of 2013, Telenor Group reported revenues of NOK 24.7 billion. EBITDA before other items was NOK 8.42 billion, EBITDA margin was 34 %, and operating cash flow was NOK 5.6 billion.

“The first quarter of 2013 is characterised by a solid operating cash flow of NOK 5.6 billion, strong margins in several operations and good progress in operational performance in India. The strengthened EBITDA margin of 34% is further supported by a higher share of bundled subscriptions and good network quality in the Norwegian operation,’’ said Jon Fredrik Baksaas, President and CEO of Telenor Group.

“The organic revenue growth for the Group this quarter is weaker than previous quarters due to lower growth contribution from India and handset sales, as well as regulatory factors. However, we regard the underlying trends as positive. We see healthy mobile service revenue growth in our operations in Norway and Thailand contributing to solid margins, as well as strong customer acquisition in Bangladesh. Regulatory issues impacted our performance in Pakistan this quarter however we now see sales picking up. During this quarter, dtac in Thailand completed a nationwide network upgrade and is preparing for the launch of 3G services on the 2.1 GHz frequency band in the second quarter. This will represent an important milestone in the transition from a concession to a licencing regime,’’ said Baksaas.

“In Norway, we continue to invest to secure our customers’ access to superior mobile network coverage and high quality of services. We have recently adjusted our mobile market offers to adapt to changing customer needs and the transition to data. We see positive effects from operational efficiency this quarter, and regard this as a key contributor to value creation going forward, ” said Baksaas.

“To enable our customers to take advantage of the opportunities that the Internet offers, we need to be responsive to change. The growth in demand for data centric services requires significant investments in high-speed networks. It is therefore paramount that we continue to implement sustainable business models to secure long-term return on these investments,” said Baksaas.

“Based on the performance in the first quarter and our estimates for the rest of the year, we adjust the 2013 outlook for organic revenue growth somewhat to 2-4%. At the same time, we maintain the outlook for EBITDA margin and capex/sales.” said Baksaas.

Key figures

The table below contains key figures for the first quarter of 2013, compared to the previous year.

	1Q	1Q	Year
(NOK in millions except earnings per share)	2013	2012 (Restated)	2012 (Restated)
Revenues	24 716	25 119	101 718
EBITDA before other income and expenses	8 423	7 761	32 848
EBITDA margin before other income and expenses (%)	34.1	30.9	32.3
Adjusted operating profit ¹	4 985	4 025	18 446
Adjusted operating profit/Revenues (%)	20.2	16.0	18.1
Profit after taxes and non-controlling interests	3 602	584	8 809
Earnings per share from total operations, basic, in NOK	2.34	0.37	5.63
Capex	2 868	2 682	21 511
Capex excl. licences and spectrum	2 868	2 487	12 299
Capex excl. licences and spectrum/Revenues (%)	11.6	9.9	12.1
Operating cash flow ²	5 555	5 274	20 549
Net interest-bearing liabilities³	28 853	18 384	33 082

¹ Adjusted operating profit is defined as Operating profit less other income and expenses and impairment losses.

² Operating cash flow is defined as EBITDA before other income and expenses – Capex, excluding licences and spectrum

³ Net interest-bearing liabilities is defined as interest-bearing debt excluding net present value of licence liabilities.

For more information please refer to the quarterly report at http://www.telenor.com/investor-relations/reports/2013/q1-results/.

Contact:
Meera Bhatia, Communications Manager, Tel: +4746844959, E-mail: meera.bhatia@telenor.com

To the editorial offices:
Press and analyst conference
In connection with the publication of the financial results, a press and analyst conference will be held on Friday 26 April 2013 at 09:00 hrs Norwegian time/CET. The presentation will be held in Auditorium A, Telenor Expo Visitors’ Centre, at the Telenor Headquarters at Fornebu outside Oslo. President and CEO Jon Fredrik Baksaas and CFO Richard Olav Aa will present the results. All presentations will be given in English.

Internet and mobile broadcast
The press and analyst conference will be broadcast live over the Internet, and a recorded version will be made available on http://www.telenor.com/investor-relations/reports/2013/q1-results/. During the live transmission, written questions may be submitted via the Internet. The conference will also be available live, and in a recorded version, on mobile phones – for access, SMS expo to 2440 or +472440 from abroad.

Conference call and Q&A
The press and analyst conference will also be available as a conference call. This service also allows participants to ask questions at a concluding Q&A session, which will be held immediately after the presentation and a brief Q&A session in the auditorium. Please register well in advance on (+47)23184545, and state your name and company to an automatic voicemail followed by # (pound sign). For the Q&A session: to queue up for questions please press *1.

Materials
English language versions of the full quarterly report and all presentations used during the press and analyst conference will be made available at http://www.telenor.com/investor-relations/reports/2013/q1-results/

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