Sweden’s Telia Company has reported a 2.7% year-on-year increase in net sales for the fourth quarter of 2020 to SEK23.46 billion (USD2.77 billion), though on a like-for-like basis turnover fell 1.9%. Sales for full-year 2020 were up 3.8% on a reported basis at SEK89.19 billion, though there was a 3.4% drop in comparable terms. In the fourth quarter, adjusted EBITDA was down 5.5% as reported and 6.6% like-for-like to SEK7.48 billion, while the full-year total was down 1.0% as reported (down 3.0% comparable) to SEK30.70 billion.
In 4Q20 the group reported a net loss of SEK24.45 billion, down from a profit of SEK1.37 billion a year earlier, impacted by a SEK17.96 billion capital loss from the disposal of Turkcell Holding relating to accumulated foreign exchange losses, as well as a SEK7.80 billion goodwill impairment in Finland. This dragged the group’s full year net loss down to SEK22.76 billion, compared to a profit of SEK7.09 billion the year before. In the fourth quarter COVID-19 had an estimated negative impact of SEK400 million and SEK200 million on service revenues and adjusted EBITDA, respectively.
Telia Company is expecting service revenues and adjusted EBITDA to be flat or grow in low single figures in FY2021, using constant currency and excluding Telia Carrier, which is in the process of being sold.
The group claimed 16.97 million mobile subscriptions across Scandinavia and the Baltic region at the end of 2020, up from 16.74 million a year earlier. Fixed voice customers decreased from 1.50 million to 1.25 million and fixed broadband subscribers dropped from 2.93 million to 2.90 million, but pay-TV users rose from 3.07 million at end-2019 to 3.24 million a year later.