Regulatory press release
Tele2 Group
Apr 23 2008, 6:00 AM CET
Interim Report January-March 2008
Stockholm - Wednesday, April 23, 2008 - Tele2 AB ("Tele2") (OMX Nordic Exchange: TEL2 A and TEL2 B), today announced its consolidated results for the first quarter 2008.
Operating revenue amounted to SEK 10,378 (9,551) million, an increase by 9 percent. Operating revenue was negatively impacted by a nonrecurring charge of SEK 61 million from the Austrian operations
EBITDA increased by 13 percent to SEK 1,764 (1,558) million. EBITDA was negatively impacted by a nonrecurring charge of SEK 61 million from the Austrian operations
EBIT amounted to SEK 786 (674) million
Net profit amounted to SEK 750 (301) million
Earnings per share amounted to SEK 1.66 (0.77)
Tele2's net debt amounted to SEK 4,935 (16,072) million, a decrease by 69 percent
Lars-Johan Jarnheimer, President and CEO of Tele2 AB comments:
"The hard work of the realignment process continues to show result, providing us more space to manoeuvre.
The environment for corporate transactions is affected by the current credit turmoil. Nevertheless, we are certain that our dedication, focus and concentration will show results. Hence, we feel assured that the realignment process will develop according to plan.
Our mobile operations in Russia continue to impress. We are - step by step - reaching our communicated goals regarding this market area. New challenges lie ahead with the build-out based on the new licences that Tele2 was awarded in 2007.
We will make a strong push in our Russian business, and plan to double the number of regions in the coming years. This will increase the population under Tele2 coverage by 50 percent in Russia. It is a truly demanding task, and if successful, will result in great rewards.
Mobile operations once again delivered a solid operational performance. We had a robust customer intake in Russia, Croatia and the Baltic. Russia improved its EBITDA margin to 35 percent, a new record level. The Baltic managed to improve the overall EBITDA margin to 35 percent, despite a challenging economical environment. Croatia delivered a strong customer intake of 46,000 and despite continued losses, the future prospects of the operations look increasingly more promising. The Swedish mobile operations saw a somewhat slower net intake of customers due to seasonality. We are confident about the continued growth in new customers, especially in mobile broadband.
Our fixed broadband operations added 66,000 customers during the quarter and generated a revenue growth of 11 percent, driven mainly by services on our own infrastructure. We consider our fixed broadband product as a good complement to our core operations in mobile. However, it is important to emphasis that the fixed broadband business must improve its profitability and meet the operational hurdles set by the management.
Fixed telephony operations continued to deliver robust results and profitability. The EBITDA margin was a solid 20 percent in the quarter. Even though we are well aware of the long term prospects of fixed line services, good cash flows remain to be generated in this area."
Contacts:
Lars-Johan Jarnheimer
President and CEO, Tele2 AB
Telephone: +46 (0)8 5626 4000
Lars Nilsson
CFO, Tele2 AB
Telephone: +46 (0)8 5626 4000
Lars Torstensson
Investor Relations, Tele2 AB
Telephone: +46 (0)8 5620 0042
Conference call details:
A conference call, with an interactive presentation, to discuss the results will be held at 16.00 (CET) / 15.00 (UK time) / 10.00 am (New York time), on April 23, 2008. To register for the conference call and receive a dial-in number together with an access code, please visit the Tele2 corporate website www.tele2.com. The conference call will also be available as a link on the Tele2 corporate website, both live and as archived version.
Please dial in 10 minutes prior to the start of the conference call to allow time for registration.
Tele2 is one of Europe's leading alternative telecom operators. Tele2's mission is to provide price leading and easy to use telecoms. Tele2 always strives to offer the market's best prices. We have 25 million customers in 15 countries. Tele2 offers mobile services, fixed broadband and telephony, data network services, cable TV and content services. Ever since Jan Stenbeck founded the company in 1993, it has been a tough challenger to the former government monopolies and other established providers. Tele2 has been listed on the OMX Nordic Exchange since 1996. In 2007, we had an operating revenue of SEK 43.4 billion and reported an operating profit (EBITDA) of SEK 6.6 billion. Please visit us at www.tele2.com