HELSINKI: Finland’s Teliasonera reported that its net profit declined 5.9 per cent in its net profit for the first quarter of 2015. Sweden and Finland’s dominant telco’s quarterly net profit slipped to SEK3.71 billion kronor ($427 million), versus a year-ago profit of SEK3.95 billion. Earnings per share dropped to 0.86 krona versus 0.91 krona.
Its revenue climbed to SEK26.04 billion from SEK23.97 billion, while earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization, excluding non-recurring items, declined 4.3 per cent in local currencies.
In Sweden, operating income fell to SEK2.09 billion from SEK2.63 billion, while operating income in TeliaSonera’s Eurasian unit gained to SEK1.90 billion from SEK1.76 billion.
In more positive news, the telco ended March with 701,000 TV customers in Sweden, a 7.8 per cent rise on the total a year earlier. Some 4,000 were gained in Q1
In the other markets in Europe, the telco ended Q1 with a total of 871,000 TV customers, a 9.3 per cent increase on a year earlier. The gain in Q1 was 17,000.
In Finland, it had 493,000 TV customers at the end of Q1, up by 11.8 per cent year-on-year, with the gain the quarter amounting to 12,00. In Denmark, the corresponding figures were up 20,000, an increase of 7.5 per cent year-on-year.
