Telenor Alltime High Cash Flow in Fourth Quarter of 2009

By Jamil Arif on February 10, 2010

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Strong cash flow in 2009

“In 2009 the main focus within the Telenor Group has been to secure market positions while scaling our activities to a challenging business environment. The full year results demonstrate our commitment to these priorities. We had a strong operating cash flow in 2009, and the Nordic region was the main contributor with NOK 10 billion. In spite of weak macro economic conditions, our operations in Central and Eastern Europe have also delivered solid results throughout the year and the Asian operations have shown substantial improvement,” said Jon Fredrik Baksaas, President and CEO of Telenor Group.

Solid EBITDA margin in Q4

“The trends we have seen during the year continued into the fourth quarter, with a stable revenue development. In this quarter we report a solid EBITDA margin and are well aligned with our outlook for 2009. There have been improvements in the Asian region, where subscriber growth picked up in all our operations. Telenor in Pakistan continued the positive development and DTAC in Thailand delivered strong results combined with revenue recovery. The listing of Grameenphone in November has been met with overwhelming interest in the market,” Baksaas said.

Nordic region

In Norway, Telenor had strong performance in 2009, particularly within the mobile area where the demand for mobile broadband was one of the main revenue drivers. The recently announced vendor agreements for mobile infrastructure in the Nordic region will secure enhanced customer experience and profitability on mobile broadband in the years to come.

VimpelCom Ltd. launched tender offer

The process of combining Kyivstar and OJSC VimpelCom into a new leading emerging markets mobile operator VimpelCom Ltd. is on track. We expect to finalise the transaction around mid 2010.

Milestone in India

The successful launch of operations in India in December was a significant milestone for the Telenor Group in 2009, marking the completion of the first phase of the Uninor launch activities. Brand awareness and 1 million subscribers within the first weeks of operations provide a good basis for the next launch phase. To develop Uninor according to plan will be among our main priorities in 2010.

Dividends proposed for 2009

As a result of our strong execution in 2009, combined with the fact that we have received dividends from Kyivstar and OJSC VimpelCom of around NOK 5 billion, the Board of Telenor has decided to propose dividends for the year of 2009 of NOK 2.50 per share.

Focus areas in 2010

“Moving into 2010, the Telenor Group will strive to secure our market positions, while capturing organic growth opportunities. We will continue to implement necessary efficiency measures and provide innovative and viable solutions to our customers,” Baksaas ends.

Key figures

The table below contains pro forma key figures (including Kyivstar) for the fourth quarter and full year of 2009, compared to the previous year:

Fourth quarter		Year
(NOK in millions except earnings per share	2009	2008	2009	2008
Revenues	26 263	29 403	106 672	109 970
EBITDA before other income and expenses	8 109	9 830	36 766	38 491
EBITDA margin before other income and expenses (%)	30.9	33.4	34.5	35.0
Adjusted operating profit	3 928	5 338	20 081	22 640
Adjusted operating profit/Revenues (%)	15.0	18.2	18.8	20.6
Net income attributable to equity holders of Telenor ASA	2 493	1 963	8 979	13 065
Earnings per share from total operations, basic, in NOK	1.51	1.18	5.42	7.83
Capex	5 798	7 239	17 123	22 715
Capex excl. licences and spectrum	5 798	6 754	17 123	20 680
Capex excl. licences and spectrum/Revenues (%)	22.1	23.0	16.1	18.8
Operating cash flow	2 311	3 076	19 643	17 811
Net interest-bearing liabilities	25 496	39 309

Telenor Pakistan Posts Strong Results for Q4 2009:

Telenor Pakistan has posted strong results after a solid final quarter in 2009. Telenor Pakistan’s Q4 results announced their subscriber base to have reached 22.5 million. The net additions of 842,000 subscriptions during the fourth quarter are 77,000 more than the Q3 net additions. In the last quarter of the year, the revenue increased 9% over Q3 while EBITDA margins grew to an all time high of 28.4%, a whopping 28% growth over Q3.

CEO Telenor Pakistan, Jon Eddy Abdullah praised Telenor Pakistan employees and attributed the company’s success to their unrelenting dedication. He said, “Telenor Pakistan has been recognized by Telenor Group for the highest revenue growth rate throughout the group. This, in the face of current business environment challenges, demonstrates a stellar performance.”

During this quarter, Telenor Pakistan launched their suite of financial services under the brand name easypaisa. Within 4 months, more than 300,000 Bill Payment and more than 50,000 Money Transfer transactions have already been recorded. Telenor Pakistan also continued its support in disaster response by donating 2 million to the landslide victims of Attabad, Hunza. Under its flagship Corporate Responsibility initiative Khuddar Pakistan, Telenor Pakistan worked with Pakistan Blind Cricket Council to identify the next generation of blind cricketers from schools throughout the country.

Detailed Report of Telenor Find Below: