Swedish telecoms group TeliaSonera has reported that its consolidated group revenues in full-year 2013 decreased by 3.0% to SEK101.700 billion (USD15.785 billion), while in local currencies, excluding acquisitions and disposals, net sales fell by 0.2%. EBITDA, excluding non-recurring items, decreased by 1.6% to SEK35.584 billion, although EBITDA in local currencies (excluding acquisitions and disposals) increased by 1.7%. Total operating income (EBIT) excluding non-recurring items fell by 0.5% to SEK28.534 billion, while EBIT from associated companies excluding one-offs rose to SEK5.986 billion. In total, non-recurring items in 2013 affecting EBIT came to -SEK4.072 billion (compared to -SEK282 million in 2012), mainly related to write-downs, scrapping of IT and other platforms and costs related to personnel reductions. Annual net income attributable to owners of the parent company decreased by 24.7% to SEK14.970 billion and earnings per share decreased to SEK3.46 (from SEK4.59). Group CAPEX increased to SEK16.332 billion in the twelve-month period, up from SEK15.685 billion the previous year.
In TeliaSonera’s European mobile services division the number of consolidated subscriptions fell on a net year-on-year basis to 20.497 million at 31 December 2013, down from 20.537 million at end-2012 (and down from a Q3 2013 total of 20.718 million), largely due to a change in churn policy of pre-paid subscriptions in Lithuania with an impact of around 300,000 customer losses. Growth was strongest in Spain and Finland with net increases of around 200,000 and 100,000 subscribers to 3.9 million and 3.3 million mobile subscriptions, respectively. Annual European mobile net sales decreased by 3.5% to SEK48.873 billion, including a 1.0% negative effect of exchange rate fluctuations. The division’s EBITDA decreased by 0.2% in 2013 to SEK14.689 billion, although the EBITDA margin increased to 30.1% from 29.1% the previous year, and divisional twelve-month CAPEX increased to SEK5.811 billion from SEK4.496 billion. CAPEX includes investment in licences, the most recent of which being new 4G 800MHz frequencies in Finland and Norway in Q3 2013.
At its broadband (including fixed voice and pay-TV) division, TeliaSonera reported that its number of consolidated broadband access subscriptions decreased slightly year-on-year, by a net 58,000 to 2.474 million at 31 December 2013, due to the divestiture of NextGenTel in Norway (accounting for 184,000 subscriptions), while during the fourth quarter of the year total broadband accesses rose by a net 40,000. Consolidated TV subscriptions increased by 97,000 from the start of the year (and by 31,000 in 4Q13) to reach 1.429 million at 31 December 2013. Traditional fixed voice subscriptions decreased by 368,000 from the end of 2012 to 3.149 million twelve months later (having dropped by 87,000 in 4Q13), while the net intake of VoIP subscriptions was 94,000 in the year and 24,000 quarter-on-quarter, bringing the total number of consolidated VoIP subscriptions to 769,000. Annual broadband revenues decreased by 6.2% to SEK33.510 billion, including the negative effect of exchange rate fluctuations (-0.4%) and impact from acquisitions and disposals (-2.6%). Broadband EBITDA fell by 11.1% to SEK9.778 billion in full-year 2013 and the divisional EBITDA margin dropped to 29.2% compared to 30.8% in 2012. Broadband CAPEX was lowered to SEK4.755 billion (SEK5.445 billion).
At TeliaSonera’s Eurasia mobile division, the number of subscriptions in the consolidated operations reached 44.177 million at end-December 2013, an increase of 1.642 million customers in a year, although up by just 39,000 during the fourth quarter. Growth was strongest in Nepal and Kazakhstan with annual increases of around 1.8 million and 800,000 to 10.9 million and 14.3 million subscriptions, respectively. Eurasia net sales increased by 3.5% to SEK20.414 billion in 2013, including negative exchange rate effects (-8.4%) and a positive impact from acquisitions and disposals (+0.4%). Eurasia EBITDA grew by 8.2% to SEK10.796 billion and the unit’s EBITDA margin climbed to 52.9% (50.6%). Eurasia CAPEX decreased slightly to SEK4.712 billion (SEK4.739 billion).
For 2014, TeliaSonera forecasts that its net sales in local currencies, excluding acquisitions and disposals, will be around the same level as in 2013, while currency fluctuations may have a material impact on reported figures in Swedish krona. The group’s EBITDA margin, excluding non-recurring items, is expected to be around the same level as in 2013 (35.0%).