Swedish-based telecoms group Tele2 has reported that its net revenues from continuing operations amounted to SEK7.298 billion (USD1.135 billion) in January-March 2013, down by 2% year-on-year, while EBITDA fell by 1% in Q1 to SEK1.488 billion, equivalent to an EBITDA margin of 20% (virtually unchanged in a year). The company said that excluding foreign exchange effects, revenue and EBITDA rose by 0.2% and 1% year-on-year respectively. Net profit from continuing operations for the first quarter jumped by 34% y-o-y to SEK353 million. During the quarter Tele2 announced its sale of Tele2 Russia to VTB Group in a cash transaction comprising ‘approximately SEK15.6 billion or USD2.4 billion in equity value, and USD1.15 billion or approximately SEK7.5 billion in net debt, equivalent to an EBITDA multiple of 4.9 based on FY2012 results’. The transaction was successfully completed on 4 April 2013. Including Russia, Tele2’s total revenue in 1Q13 was SEK10.559 billion (SEK10.481 billion in 1Q12), EBITDA was SEK2.674 billion (SEK2.571 billion) and net profit was SEK1.009 billion (SEK869 million).
Across the Tele2 group (continuing operations), net customer intake in Q1 2013 was 211,000 (compared to 269,000 a year earlier), with mobile net intake 313,000 (375,000) in the quarter offsetting fixed line/broadband losses. Highlights included mobile net sales in Sweden growing by 2.4%, as customer demand for smartphones and data services persisted; Swedish mobile EBITDA contribution in the quarter was SEK732 million (up from SEK656 million in 1Q12), equivalent to an EBITDA margin of 30%. Tele2 Kazakhstan continued to expand its market share and added 252,000 (332,000) new customers in the quarter to reach a total user base of 3.7 million (up from 1.7 million a year earlier). Thanks to improved operational scale, EBITDA losses in Kazakhstan diminished to SEK45 million (SEK97 million). Tele2 Russia (now reported by the group as ‘discontinued operations’) ended March 2013 with 22.88 million mobile customers.