Telia Lietuva : net profit grew by 20 per cent

Leading Lithuanian telecommunication company Telia Lietuva reports revenue of EUR 183.8 million for the first six months of 2018, an increase by 2.4 per cent over the revenue a year ago. During the first half, EBITDA, excluding non-recurring items, grew by 8.4 per cent up to EUR 62.4 million, and net profit jumped by 20.2 per cent up to EUR 25.8 million. The greatest impact on interim results had a success of converged offer 'Telia One' and ongoing cost control.

During the second quarter of this year, compared with 2017, revenue of integrated telecommunication, IT and TV service provider, Telia Lietuva, eased by 1.6 per cent and amounted to EUR 93.1 million, while EBITDA excluding non-recurring items increased by 8.2 per cent up to EUR 31.4 million and net profit for April-June of 2018 grew by 16.1 per cent up to EUR 13.8 million.

'The good financial results reflect the benefits to the customers that Telia Lietuva services and technologies' synergy brings. During the second quarter, number of 'Telia One' users alone double and reached 20 thousand. If the present Company's results we could call good, then we have a clear goal to make them great. That implies more innovations, stiffer competition and more value to our customers', said CEO of Telia Lietuva, Dan Strömberg.

He noted that purposely reduced volumes of low margin international voice and data transit had a slight negative effect on revenue for the second quarter, but on the other hand had a positive impact on the Company's profitability, which was supported by increased equipment sales, data usage and more effective cost control.

Revenue from equipment sale for the first half of 2018, compared with the same period a year ago, increased by almost one fifth (18.3 per cent), from mobile communication services - by 12.8 per cent, and TV services - by 11 per cent.

Despite saturated and extremely competitive market, number of Telia customers in Lithuania continued to grow. Compared with the June of 2017, number of IPTV customers over the last twelve months increased by 10.6 per cent up to 220 thousand, number of active post-paid mobile communication service subscribers was up by 6.9 per cent and number of fiber-optic Internet connections grew by 6.3 per cent.

During the second quarter, Telia Lietuva made another step on the way of technological shift: launched IPTV service over mobile LTE 4G network. This technology is replacing an outdated digital terrestrial television (DVB-T), provision of which will be terminated in autumn. At the end of June, number of 4G+ and 4G++ base stations, that ensure the provision of the fastest mobile Internet, in Telia Lietuva mobile network reached 870 and already amounted to 66 per cent of the whole mobile network.

'The foundation for all innovations, offers and quality of services is a modern and reliable telecommunications network. Therefore, we always proactively expand our network capacity to meet the growing demand for data and content. During the second quarter we completed the main stage of IP network upgrade, that was started last year, and during the first half of 2018 invested EUR 24.7 million into development of fixed and mobile network', said D. Strömberg. The total investments in January-June amounted to EUR 33.2 million, an increase by one fourth (23.4 per cent) over the total investments of EUR 26.9 million a year ago.

In May, Company's shareholders were paid a record-high EUR 0.07 dividend per share (in total EUR 40.8 million) for the year 2017.

According the latest data release by Lithuanian Communications Regulatory Authority for the first quarter of 2018, over the year telecommunications market in Lithuania increased by 1.6 per cent, and Telia Lietuva in terms of revenue is the largest telecommunications operator in Lithuania with a market share of 42 per cent.

*Financial data of 2017 were recalculated due to International Financial Reporting Standard 15 that came into force on 1 January 2018; therefore, they are slightly different from the data that were reported a year ago.