First quarter 2007: Continued high underlying revenue growth
"I am very pleased to present a good underlying performance for the Group, with continued high growth in revenues and subscriptions. Our consolidated mobile operations added more than 6 million subscriptions. However, Telenor's results are affected by the fact that we are not able to include Kyivstar, since the existing injunctions in Ukraine are prohibiting us from receiving financial information," said President and CEO of Telenor, Jon Fredrik Baksaas.
Mobile operations
"DiGi in Malaysia continues its excellent performance. Telenor Pakistan is growing even faster than we expected, increasing revenue per subscription and thereby delivering break-even on EBITDA. Sonofon in Denmark is delivering another solid quarter. In Bangladesh, increased competition and price reductions have led to lower growth. Grameenphone in Bangladesh is currently investigating opportunities for an initial public offering in Dhaka," said Jon Fredrik Baksaas.
Fixed
In Fixed Norway, total underlying revenues decreased by 5.7 per cent in the first quarter of 2007 compared to the first quarter of 2006, to NOK 3,856 million. The reduction of prices for traditional telephony, aligned with VoIP, has been successful. Compared to previous quarters, fewer customers have terminated their traditional telephony subscriptions. This has contributed to reduced costs for the Norwegian fixed operation. During the quarter, the number of xDSL subscriptions in Norway increased by 22,000 to 594,000. Telenor's estimated market share for xDSL in the retail market was 57 per cent, in line with the previous quarter. Telenor is the market leader within broadband in Scandinavia, with a total of 1.4 million retail subscriptions at the end of the first quarter 2007.
"I am satisfied that Fixed Norway is on track realising cost savings, improving the margin from last quarter," said Jon Fredrik Baksaas.
Broadcast
In the first quarter of 2007, Broadcast generated a revenue increase of 12 per cent compared to the first quarter of 2006, reaching NOK 1,700 million. EBITDA was NOK 375 million, down from NOK 408 million in the first quarter of 2006. At the end of the first quarter, the number of direct-to-home (DTH) pay TV subscribers was 944,000, while the number of cable TV subscribers was 700,000.
Key figures
The table below contains key figures from the first quarter of 2007, compared to the previous year:
Q1 2007 | Q1 2006 | Year 2006 | |||
(NOK in millions except earnings per share) | Group | Group | Group excl. Kyivstar | Group | Group excl. Kyivstar |
Revenues | 22446 | 21 284 | 18 955 | 91 077 | 80 121 |
EBITDA before other income and expenses | 7 101 | 7 810 | 6 378 | 32 992 | 26 462 |
EBITDA margin before other income and expenses (%) | 31.6 | 36.7 | 33.6 | 36.2 | 33.0 |
Adjusted operating profit | 3 659 | 4 328 | 3 275 | 18 271 | 13 326 |
Adjusted operating profit/Revenues (%) | 16.3 | 20.3 | 17.3 | 20.1 | 16.6 |
Profit after taxes and minority interests (Net income) | 2 676 | 3 650 | 3 215 | 15 920 | 13 998 |
Earnings per share, in NOK | 1.59 | 2.15 | 1.90 | 9.44 | 8.30 |
Capex | 3 930 | 3 703 | 2 873 | 19 036 | 15 405 |
Investments in businesses | 184 | 8 943 | 8 943 | 22 124 | 22 124 |
Net interest-bearing liabilities | 42 320 | 34 956 | 33 400 | 43 255 | 43 255 |
For more information please refer to the quarterly report on https://www.telenor.com/ir/reports/07q1/
Contact:
Vice President Corporate Communications, Scott Engebrigtsen
Tel: +47 90043484, E-mail scott.engebrigtsen@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 4 May 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 Trond Westlie 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 www.telenor.com/ir/reports/07q1 . 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 with 3G, GPRS or EDGE. For more details please refer to www.telenor.com/ir/reports/07q1.
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 presentations and a brief Q&A session in the auditorium. Please register well in advance on (+47) 800 80 119 (from Norway) or (+47) 23 00 04 00 (from Norway or abroad).
Materials
English language versions of the full quarterly report and all presentations used during the press and analyst conference will be made available on www.telenor.com/ir/reports/07q1 at 07:00 and 09:00 hrs Norwegian time/CET, respectively.