A strong start to the year
First quarter summary
- Net sales amounted to
SEK 21,818 million (21,814) and like for like, net sales increased 2.1%. -
Service revenues increased 0.1% to
SEK 18,757 million (18,747) and like for like, service revenues increased 3.2%. For the Core Telco business, i.e. excluding TV and Media, service revenues increased 2.9% on a like for like basis. - Operational expenses declined 3.0% driven by further business transformation progress.
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Adjusted EBITDA increased 0.3% to
SEK 7,202 million (7,179) and like for like, adjusted EBITDA increased 0.1%. For the Core Telco business, i.e. excluding TV and Media, adjusted EBITDA increased 4.6% on a like for like basis. -
Total net income amounted to
SEK 1,086 million (953). -
Operational free cash flow decreased to
SEK 2,163 million (4,036) and cash flow from operating activities decreased toSEK 5,972 million (7,474). -
A green hybrid bond of
EUR 500 million was issued, to finance more energy efficient networks and green digital solutions. - The leverage ratio was 2.09x at the end of the quarter.
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The outlook for 2022 remains unchanged: Service revenues and adjusted EBITDA, like for like, are estimated to grow by low single digit. Cash CAPEX, excluding fees for licenses and spectrum, is estimated to be in the range of
SEK 14.0-15.0 billion . -
It is expected that the Swedish tower transaction, announced on
27 January 2022 , will close in the second quarter and the net proceeds are estimated at approximatelySEK 5.4 billion . - The Board of Directors has previously announced its intention to return the net proceeds from the Swedish tower transaction to the shareholders, by means of an extraordinary dividend or a share buy-back program. The Board has now resolved that the method for such transfer shall be a share buy-back program.
CEO comment...
"We experienced a strong start to 2022. Our transformation towards a smarter, more digital, and more customer centric Telia delivering sustainable growth is becoming increasingly visible. Network investments combined with richer content and service orchestration is spurring growth across all business units, while improvements in how we serve our customers are reducing response times and enhancing their experience. The latter provides a solid fundament for positive long-term customer satisfaction and cost to serve metrics, enabled by our digital transformation. This, combined with continued workforce streamlining, sees operational expenses declining, defying the inflationary pressure around us. Overshadowing the quarter, the appalling Russian invasion of
During the quarter we have seen solid momentum across our four strategic priorities.
Core to Inspiring our Customers is a constant improvement of our offerings, currently most visible in the form of new technologies and broader aggregated content, both of which are underpinning positive ARPU development, on average up 2-3%, in the quarter. Premium sports content helps both our leading broadband and TV business in
We Connect Everyone by building 5G - on track for more than 90% population coverage in most markets by 2023 - modernizing our 4G networks, and by building out fiber. Specifically on 5G we now offer 5G to 36% of the Nordic/Baltic population, with close to 70% population coverage in
Our strategic priority to Transform to Digital is advancing. IT infrastructure modernization and further dismantling of legacy - now with over 25% of legacy systems removed - resulted in
These efforts all contribute to our Deliver Sustainably priority, the essence of which is to execute consistently and sustainably over time, creating value for all our stakeholders. I am pleased that our financial metrics are healthy with our return to service revenue and EBITDA growth increasingly robust as exemplified by our Core Telco businesses growing service revenue by 2.9% and EBITDA by 4.6%, respectively. Mobile service revenue grew in all business units, and we are working to introduce CPI-linked pricing in our Enterprise contracts wherever possible to create sustainable inflationary pricing mechanisms. We are on track to meet our
Looking at our markets,
A turnaround in
As Norway's largest challenger,
Our market leaders in
Our TV and Media unit saw several moving parts during the quarter. Advertising again performed strongly with 11% revenue growth. The transition to digital continues at full speed with digital advertising growing 26% and delivering one third of the overall growth, despite good momentum in linear. Pay TV revenue was flat in the quarter as strong growth in sports in
The sale of 49% of our Swedish towers announced in January is proceeding as planned and is expected to close in Q2, earlier than previously estimated. Pending closing of the transaction, the Board of Directors has decided to execute a share buy-back program of
While to date our markets have proven resilient to the impact from the Russian invasion of
Notwithstanding the lack of clarity on the longevity and outcome of the conflict, which we continue to monitor closely, I am emboldened by the visible signs of progress we are making in creating a better Telia for the benefits of customers, employees and stakeholders alike."
President & CEO
In CEO comment, all growth rates disclosed are based on the "like for like" definition and EBITDA refers to adjusted EBITDA, unless otherwise stated. See definitions for more information.
This information is information that
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Forward-Looking Statements
Statements made in the press release relating to future status or circumstances, including future performance and other trend projections are forward-looking statements. By their nature, forward-looking statements involve risk and uncertainty because they relate to events and depend on circumstances that will occur in the future. There can be no assurance that actual results will not differ materially from those expressed or implied by these forward-looking statements due to many factors, many of which are outside the control of
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