Telia Lietuva : Strong half-year growth and Lithuania's digitization

Revenue of Telia Lietuva, which has the largest share of the Lithuanian telecommunications market, grew by 4.5 per cent, up to EUR 189.3 million, in the first six months of this year compared with the same period last year. Half-year's EBITDA, excluding non-recurring items, increased by 5.2 per cent, up to EUR 66.3 million. Cash flow increased by 53 per cent in the first half-year, to EUR 45.3 million.

Compared to the six-months' period of 2019, Telia Lietuva revenue from telecommunications, IT and TV services increased by 5.6 per cent and amounted to EUR 97.1 million in the second quarter of this year. The Company's EBITDA of the quarter, excluding non-recurring items, increased by 6.7 per cent over the year and was EUR 33.3 million.

Telia Lietuva net profit decreased in both the first half and the second quarter of this year, by 2.9 per cent to EUR 23.9 million, and 11.5 per cent to EUR 11.4 million, respectively. This was due to higher income tax expenses compared to last year.

'The global pandemic and the lockdown having lasted three months in Lithuania were the key factors that affected our business. This special situation demonstrated the importance of a quality network, digital solutions and a well-organized work of the Company. Despite the fact that our outlets were closed, roaming revenues dropped and there was a great deal of uncertainty, we have not only quickly adapted to the fundamentally changed conditions, but also made a significant contribution to the digitization of Lithuanian people, institutions and businesses as well as the impact of the fight against the effects of the pandemic,' says Dan Strömberg, CEO of Telia Lietuva.

A growth in the need for business solutions had a significant impact on Telia Lietuva results. Computer cloud and public sector digitization increased sales of IT services by 24.4 per cent in the first half of the year. A EUR 1 million-worth three-year agreement on the implementation and integration of Lithuanian cloud services was signed with the Information Society Development Committee.

Work, education and home entertainment also led to a two-figure growth in TV services. In the first half of this year, revenue from the sale of smart TV services grew by 18.3 per cent, while the sale of mobile communication services increased by 6.1 per cent.

Despite the saturated and highly competitive market, the number of Telia Lietuva smart TV customers increased by 5.1 per cent, to 249 thousand, the number of mobile communication customers grew by 3.8 per cent to 1.35 million, and the number of fiber-optic Internet users increased by 2.1 per cent to 292 thousand in the first half of this year.

Equipment sales grew by 10.6 per cent in the second quarter of this year and by 2.5 percent in the six months' period. An additional EUR 2.8 million in revenue came from winning a competition for computers for schools announced by the National Education Agency.

Data usage grew by 71 per cent in the last quarter, the number of minutes used - by 28 per cent and international calls - by 15 per cent.

The five main Telia Lietuva outlets in Vilnius, Kaunas and Klaipėda, which were closed during the quarantine, were updated. The Company invested a total of almost EUR 1 million in the works of their renovation. The number of customers served by phone and the online call traffic doubled during the quarantine, but nevertheless, the secret shopper survey conducted by Dive Lietuva showed that Telia Lietuva is the company providing the best customer service over the phone. Compared to the pre-quarantine period, customer traffic in Telia Lietuva outlets has recovered to 80 per cent.