Second quarter 2008: Stable financial performance
"The overall trends seen in the first quarter continued into the second quarter with a solid underlying revenue growth combined with a stable margin. The number of subscriptions in our mobile operations reached 153 million at the end of the quarter, with the growth mainly coming from Bangladesh, Pakistan and Thailand," said President and CEO of Telenor, Jon Fredrik Baksaas.
Central and Eastern Europe
"Kyivstar continued to consolidate its position as the strong market leader in Ukraine and confirmed the impressive performance from previous quarters with excellent results also for the second quarter," Baksaas said.
Asia
"The tendencies seen in the previous quarter with increased inflationary pressure have continued, in particular in Bangladesh, Pakistan and Thailand. Based on the increased challenges linked to macroeconomic conditions, we have adjusted our reported revenue outlook for 2008 slightly, while our overall underlying revenue expectations including Kyivstar remain at around six per cent," Baksaas said.
Nordic
"Our mobile operation in Norway has managed to maintain the improved financial performance, delivering a solid organic growth in retail revenues of six per cent for the first half 2008. In Sweden, we still see a challenging market. As a result of investments in taking a HDTV position, the margins in our Nordic broadcasting operations were affected by costs for media rights related to the European Football Championship 2008 in the second quarter," Baksaas said.
Key figures
The table below contains pro forma key figures (including Kyivstar) for the second quarter of 2008, compared to the previous year:
(NOK in millions except earnings per share) | Q2 2008 | Q2 2007 | Year 2007 |
Revenues | 27 178 | 26 285 | 105 021 |
EBITDA before other income and expenses | 9 317 | 9 254 | 36 358 |
EBITDA margin before other income and expenses (%) | 34.3 | 35.2 | 34.6 |
Adjusted operating profit | 5 573 | 5 411 | 20 642 |
Adjusted operating profit/Revenues (%) | 20.5 | 20.6 | 19.7 |
Profit after taxes and non-controlling interests | 3 536 | 3 863 | 18 016 |
Earnings per share from total operations, basic, in NOK | 2.11 | 2.30 | 10.72 |
Capex | 6 386 | 5 233 | 22 079 |
Investments in businesses | 76 | 4 782 | 6 041 |
Net interest-bearing liabilities | 35 702 | 44 558 | 36 464 |
For more information please refer to the quarterly report on www.telenor.com/ir/reports/08q2 .
"After unacceptable working conditions were revealed at the premises of suppliers to Grameenphone in Bangladesh, we have taken steps to strengthen the awareness of health, safety, security and environment (HSSE) at relevant suppliers in all markets where Telenor has operations. We have also secured continuation of a strong top management in the Asian region. Recently, we have appointed new CEOs of DTAC and Telenor Pakistan, in addition to a new head of the Asian region. They possess many years of experience both outside and within Telenor, and represent market and operational competence that will benefit Telenor going forward," said Jon Fredrik Baksaas.
Contact:
Scott Engebrigtsen, Vice President Group Communications
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 Wednesday 23 July 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/08q2 . 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/08q2 .
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) 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/08q2 at 07:00 and 09:00 hrs Norwegian time/CET, respectively.