Swedish telecoms group TeliaSonera’s net income attributable to controlling shareholders increased by 17% year-on-year in the second quarter of 2010 to SEK5.24 billion (USD712 million), despite revenues which decreased 1.7% to SEK26.964 billion, although the company reported that turnover ‘in local currencies and excluding acquisitions’ was up by 3.3%. The profit rise was mainly attributed to lower restructuring and financing costs. Operating income in the three months to the end of June was SEK7.92 billion, up 6% y-o-y, whilst excluding non-recurring items the figure decreased from SEK8.18 billion in 2Q09 to SEK7.94 billion a year later as higher EBITDA was more than offset by lower contribution from associated companies. Quarterly EBITDA saw a reported 12% y-o-y rise to SEK9.20 billion whilst EBITDA excluding non-recurring items increased by 1.9% to SEK9.21 billion. During the three-month period the group’s total number of mobile, broadband, fixed line and pay-TV subscriptions grew by 2.5 million, of which 1.8 million were accounted for by consolidated operations and 700,000 were at associated companies, to reach a total of 152.4 million at end-June 2010.
For the first six months of the year TeliaSonera’s net profit increased by 11.8% y-o-y to SEK9.96 billion on net sales which fell 2.8% to SEK53.05 billion, although in local currencies and excluding acquisitions 1H net turnover increased 2.9%. Group outlook for 2010 has been revised. Growth in annual net sales in local currencies and excluding acquisitions is expected to be in line with the first half. The CAPEX-to-sales ratio is expected to be approximately 14-15% in the full year.