News
Swedish telco grows full-year revenue, EBITDA; forecasts 2016 capital spending of up to SEK15 billion.
TeliaSonera announced on Friday that it swung to a fourth-quarter net loss due to impairment charges related to its Uzbek and Danish operations.
The Sweden-based telco’s net loss for the three months to 31 December came in at 3.01 billion kronor (€324.05 million), compared to a year-earlier profit of SEK2.94 billion.
TeliaSonera announced earlier in January that it would record SEK7.2 billion worth of impairment charges during the fourth quarter. The company wrote down the value of its Uzbek business – which is up for sale in line with the operator’s plan to withdraw from Eurasia – by SEK5.3 billion due to the risks that come with acquiring a company that is subject to multiple corruption investigations.
TeliaSonera also recorded a SEK1.9 billion impairment charge related to Telia Denmark following its unsuccessful attempt to form a joint venture with rival Telenor.
Meanwhile, TeliaSonera’s fourth-quarter net sales increased to SEK22.66 billion (€2.44 billion) from SEK21.40 billion a year ago, while EBITDA excluding one-off charges was up 11.1% year-on-year to SEK6.56 billion.
Full-year revenue grew to SEK86.57 billion (€9.32 billion) from SEK81.13 billion in 2014, while EBITDA excluding one-off charges was SEK25.28 billion, compared to SEK24.36 billion the previous year.
"Thanks to great efforts from our employees during the year we are well on track to shape TeliaSonera for the future," said TeliaSonera CEO Johan Dennelind, in a statement.
For 2016, TeliaSonera forecast flat EBITDA from continuing operations. The telco also expects capital expenditure of SEK14 billion-SEK15 billion, driven primarily by fibre rollout in Sweden, and IT transformation.
