ANKARA: TeliaSonera’s Q1 revenue climbed 8.8 per cent, year-on-year, to a shade over SEK26 billion ($3 billion), but strip out favourable currency swings and sales were up by a more subdued 1.5 per cent.
Reported service revenue was up 6.5 per cent, to SEK22.8 billion, but when expressed in local currencies service revenue actually dipped, by 1.1 per cent.
There were, however, some encouraging signs. After a bruising previous quarter for TeliaSonera’s Eurasia segment, which includes operations in Kazakhstan, Azerbaijan and Uzbekistan, the Scandinavian operator managed to boost service revenues there, in local currencies, by 1.4 per cent (after a 2.4 per cent decline in Q4 2014).
Eurasia accounts for over a quarter of group sales, at SEK5.6 billion during Q1, and up 21.1 per cent compared Q1 2014.
“The macroeconomic and competitive picture in parts of Eurasia remained demanding and we have put a lot of effort into re-positioning our offerings in order to make us more attractive for the customers,” said CEO Johan Dennelind (pictured). “Our operation in Nepal showed once again strong performance, while we need to further strengthen our competitiveness in Kazakhstan. Overall, organic service revenue growth turned slightly positive and profitability remained high, but the challenging environment is expected to remain near term.”
The CEO also drew attention to “two milestones” reached during the quarter, which he said he was “particularly satisfied” about. The first was the closing of the Tele2 Norway acquisition, and the second was an eventual agreement with fellow shareholders in Turkcell to distribute a dividend, TRY3.9 billion (SEK12.6 billion), covering the years 2010-2014. TeliaSonera’s share of the dividend is around SEK4.5 billion after tax.
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