VEON : reports 4Q20 + FY2020 results

18 FEBRUARY 2021

DELIVERING ON EXPECTATIONS

BACK TO GROWTH IN AN UNEXPECTED YEAR

Amsterdam (18 February 2021) - VEON Ltd.(VEON) announces results for the fourth quarter ended 31 Dec 2020:

2020 HIGHLIGHTS:

• • VEON's recovery continued as growth on a local currency basis returned in the fourth quarter, amidst unprecedented challenges

• • Group performance and cost structure were improved by streamlining HQ, empowering local operations and enhancing governance

• • VEON executed on a record network rollout, driving growth in 4G users of 34% YoY, (+20 million). Data revenues grew by 15.0% YoY in local currency

• • Portfolio optimization remained a focus, as shown by our exit from Armenia. Further opportunities to unlock value are being explored

  2020 saw the global telecoms industry facing unprecedented challenges, as we battled the COVID pandemic with the associated lockdowns and faced a material slowdown in economies. During this time, VEON stepped-up support to our over 200 million customers, addressing their changing demands associated with the new normal

• • During the last year, the group concluded a major transformation from a centralized entity to a structure with fully empowered country operations governed by the local operating boards. This has enabled us to further strengthen the governance and expedite the decision-making processes across all local business lines

• • The Group delivered FY 2020 results in line with guidance, with full-year revenue of USD 7,980 million (down 1.6% YoY in local currency) and EBITDA Adj. of USD 3,453 million (down 2.1% YoY in local currency). Capex intensity of 23.7% was within guidance range and Group Net Debt/EBITDA of 2.3x (post IFRS) is in line with the Group's medium-term target of 2.4x

• • 4Q20 Group revenue returned to growth in local currency terms, rising by 1.4% YoY. Encouragingly, almost all operations saw improved YoY trends in the quarter compared to 3Q20, demonstrating resilience to COVID-19 restrictions across our markets. Reported revenue decreased by 11.3% YoY mainly due to currency movements

• • Over the course of the year we have seen a new leadership team led by Alexander Torbakhov being established in Beeline Russia. Supported by the newly formed local board of directors, this team has been executing on the operational turnaround. Beeline Russia recorded steady improvement in local currency revenue trends throughout the second half of the year, with an encouragingly positive YoY revenue trend in December (+3.6%)

• • The Group EBITDA for 4Q20 increased by 0.8% YoY in local currency terms, an encouraging improvement led in particular by the strong double-digit EBITDA growth from Ukraine and Kazakhstan. Reported Group EBITDA was down 11.6% YoY due to adverse currency movements during the period

• • We successfully implemented our investment plans, with total operational capex of USD 1,889 million, supporting the expansion of our 4G customer. The combined 4G population coverage of our subsidiaries reached 73% with an increase of 19 pp over the year. This strong growth in 4G subscribers will be instrumental in driving both the continued growth in the core business and in enabling our digital services

• • Driven by targeted network investments and other customer care measures the Group's 4G user base increased by 20 million YoY and 5 million QoQ, bringing the total 4G user base to 80 million. The Group recorded a QoQ increase in its total subscribers, which grew by 1.7 million in 4Q20 to 213.5 million

• • Mobile data revenues for the year were up by 15.0% YoY in local currency, driven by the growth in 4G users with correspondingly higher ARPUs. 4G subscriber penetration was at 38% at year-end and enhancing this over the next few years will be a key tailwind for the Group, driving further growth in data revenues

• • VEON's digital businesses continued to expand their customer reach. JazzCash closed the quarter with 12.2 million monthly active users

  (+67% YoY), Toffee TV in Bangladesh reached 2.3 million monthly active users from launch in November 2019 and Beeline TV had 2.7 million monthly active users (+33% YoY) in 4Q20. We believe that digital opportunities will be key enablers of medium-term growth

• • The Group's balance sheet was strengthened throughout the year, with USD 3.8 billion in multi-currency debt financing activities which increased the proportion of local currency funding. The average cost of debt was reduced by 1.5 p.p. from 7.4% to 5.9%, and the average debt maturity was extended by 13 months from 2.4 to 3.5 years, compared to December 2019

The non-IFRS financial measures used in this document, including EBITDA, EBITDA margin, EBITDA Adjusted and EBITDA Adjusted margin, Net Debt,

Equity Free Cash Flow (after licenses), Operational Capital Expenditures ("Operational capex"), Capex Intensity, local currency trends, ARPU, are defined in Attachment A "Definitions" on page 18. For further discussion of adjustments made for one-off and non-recurring items, see "Non-recurring items that affect year-on-year comparisons" on page 3.

Our co-Chief Executive Officers commented on 2020 results

Kaan Terzioğlu:

"Customers are at the heart of our organization as we work hard on improving their overall experience. This starts from our network investments and continues through the entire value chain, as we redesign our offers, execute on customer appreciation programs, broaden our digital portfolio and reorganize our distribution network.

Providing seamless customer experience across all dimensions remains the priority of our operating companies. A good example is Russia, where the new leadership team delivered on improving network quality with record rollout, improved the accessibility of our products, and grew our range of digital services resulting in a steady improvement in both subscriber and revenue trends."

Sergi Herrero:

"This was a year in which we made further progress in building out our digital platforms across the three verticals of fintech, adtech and entertainment. We continue to see immense opportunity for the digital business across our various operations and this will remain a key driver of the long-term growth prospects for our Group.

In Pakistan we have again led the market, reaching record revenue in 4Q20. In Ukraine, we delivered solid results, building on the best 4G network. In Kazakhstan, we posted 20% year-on-year growth in revenue. While continuing to support our growth markets, we shall dedicate new focus on cost efficiencies across the Group, as well as further optimizing our capital structure and streamline our portfolio."

KEY FIGURES

• • 4Q20 Revenue: USD 1,998 million, -11.3% YoY on a reported basis due to currency movements; back to growth +1.4% YoY in local currency, with solid growth in Ukraine, Kazakhstan, Pakistan, Bangladesh revenues and improving trends in Russia

• • 4Q20 EBITDA: USD 826 million, -11.6% YoY on a reported basis due to currency movements; back to growth +0.8% YoY in local currency as increase in Ukraine, Kazakhstan and Bangladesh EBITDA, as well as cost optimization at HQ,

• • 4Q20 Operational Capex: USD 674 million, with full-year capex intensity of 23.7%, in line with our investment plans

• • Solid capital structure in 4Q20: leverage level at 2.0x excluding lease liabilities, 2.3x including lease liabilities; total cash and undrawn committed credit lines at USD 3.2 billion; average cost of debt of 5.9% and improved average debt maturity of 3.5 years

• • 4Q20 profit for the period: USD 35 million, down 27.6% YoY, mainly due to currency movements

USD million	4Q20	4Q19	YoY	YoY	2020	2019	YoY	YoY
reported	local currency	reported	local currency
Total revenue, of which	1,998	2,254	(11.3%)	1.4%	7,980	8,863	(10.0%)	(1.6%)
mobile and fixed service revenue	1,842	2,079	(11.4%)	1.1%	7,471	8,240	(9.3%)	(1.5%)
mobile data revenue	660	651	1.5%	14.4%	2,588	2,434	6.3%	15.0%
EBITDA	826	935	(11.6%)	0.8%	3,453	4,215	(18.1%)	(11.3%)
EBITDA margin (EBITDA/total revenue)	41.4%	41.5%	(0.1p.p.)	(0.2p.p.)	43.3%	47.6%	(4.3p.p.)	(4.4p.p.)
EBITDA Adjusted	826	935	(11.6%)	0.8%	3,453	3,827	(9.8%)	(2.1%)
EBITDA margin Adjusted (EBITDA Adjusted/total revenue)	41.4%	41.5%	(0.1p.p.)	(0.2p.p.)	43.3%	43.2%	0.1p.p.	(0.2p.p.)
Profit for the period	35	48	(27.6%)	(315)	683	(146.2%)
Profit for the period attributable to VEON shareholders	8	22	(64.1%)	(349)	622	(156.1%)
Operational capital expenditures	674	579	16.5%	1,889	1,741	8.5%
Capex intensity (LTM Operational capital expenditures/revenue)	23.7%	19.6%	4.0p.p.	23.7%	19.6%	4.0p.p.
Equity free cash flow	(8)	82	n.m.	357	934	(61.8%)
Net debt (excl. lease liabilities)	6,108	6,302	(3.1%)	6,108	6,302	(3.1%)
Net debt/LTM EBITDA (excl. lease liabilities)	2.0	1.7	0.3	2.0	1.7	0.3
Net debt (incl. lease liabilities)	7,987	7,520	6.2%	7,987	7,520	6.2%
Net debt/LTM EBITDA (incl. lease liabilities)	2.3	2.1	0.2	2.3	2.1	0.2
Total mobile subscribers (millions)	209	212	(1.6%)	209	212	(1.6%)
4G users (millions)	80	60	34.0%	80	60	34.0%
Total fixed-line broadband subscribers (millions)	4.4	4.2	6.9%	4.4	4.2	6.9%

Note: in the above table EBITDA Adjusted for 2019 excludes special compensation of USD 38 million and other operating income of USD 350 million (for further discussion of adjustments made for one-off and non-recurring items, see "Non-recurring items that affect year-on-year comparisons." on page 3)

KEY RECENT DEVELOPMENTS

• • USD 1.25 billion 3.375% notes due 2027 issued under the Group's Global Medium-Term Note (MTN) program in November 2020

• • Early redemption of USD 600 million 3.95% Senior notes due June 2021 completed in December 2020

• • VEON's subsidiaries in Ukraine and Kazakhstan signed bilateral long-term loan agreements in local currencies worth c.USD 170 million

• • Leonid Boguslavsky appointed as director of VEON's Board of Directors

• • Beeline Russia completed 4G coverage of all Moscow metro stations with expanded 4G coverage across Moscow

• • The Group will not be paying a dividend for FY 2020, in line with guidance

• • FY 2021 guidance of low to mid-single-digit revenue and EBITDA growth, capex intensity of 22-24%

  The non-IFRS financial measures used in this document, including EBITDA, EBITDA margin, EBITDA Adjusted and EBITDA Adjusted margin, Net Debt,

  Equity Free Cash Flow (after licenses), Operational Capital Expenditures ("Operational capex"), Capex Intensity, local currency trends, ARPU, are defined in Attachment A "Definitions" on page 18. For further discussion of adjustments made for one-off and non-recurring items, see "Non-recurring items that affect year-on-year comparisons" on page 3.

CONTENTS

KEY RECENT DEVELOPMENTS ............................................................................................ 4

GROUP PERFORMANCE .................................................................................................. 5

COUNTRY PERFORMANCES .............................................................................................. 8

CONFERENCE CALL INFORMATION ..................................................................................... 14

ATTACHMENTS .......................................................................................................... 16

PRESENTATION OF FINANCIAL RESULTS

VEON's results presented in this earnings release are based on IFRS unless otherwise stated and have not been audited.

Certain amounts and percentages that appear in this earnings release have been subject to rounding adjustments. As a result, certain numerical figures shown as totals, including those in tables, may not be an exact arithmetic aggregation of the figures that precede or follow them.

All comparisons are on a year on year (YoY) basis unless otherwise stated.

The non-IFRS measures disclosed in the document, i.e. EBITDA, EBITDA margin, EBITDA Adjusted and EBITDA Adjusted margin, Net Debt, Equity Free Cash Flow (after licenses), Operational Capital Expenditures, Capex Intensity, local currency year on year change, ARPU are being defined in Appendix A.

The non-IFRS measures disclosed in the document, i.e. EBITDA, EBITDA Adjusted, Net Debt, Equity Free Cash Flow (after licenses), Operational Capital Expenditures, local currency year on year change, are reconciled to the comparable IFRS measures in Attachment C.

NON-RECURRING ITEMS THAT AFFECT YEAR-ON-YEAR COMPARISONS FOR REVENUE AND EBITDA

• 1. In 1Q19, VEON recorded a one-off vendor payment to the Company of USD 350 million, which was accounted for as other income and is reflected in EBITDA.

• 2. 2Q19 revenue and EBITDA were positively impacted by USD 38 million received in relation to the termination of a network sharing agreement in Kazakhstan between our subsidiary KaR-Tel LLP and Kcell Joint Stock Company ("Kcell") following Kazakhtelecom JSC's acquisition of 75 percent of Kcell's shares. This was accounted in revenue and is reflected in EBITDA.

• 3. On 29 October 2020, VEON announced the sale of CJSC "VEON Armenia", VEON's operating subsidiary in Armenia. Armenia results were deconsolidated from VEON Group numbers starting from 4Q20.

Local currency year-on-year trends for 4Q20 and 2020 disclosed in this earnings release exclude the impact of foreign currency movements (see full definition in Attachment A) and also exclude non-recurring items listed above.