News
Positive performances in Pakistan, Ukraine offset partially by ongoing Algeria weakness.
VimpelCom on Thursday reported a slight increase in organic third quarter revenue and EBITDA, as strong performances in Pakistan and Ukraine offset continued weakness in Algeria.
Revenue excluding foreign exchange effects, disposals, acquisitions and other factors edged up 0.8% to $2.37 billion (€2.14 billion) in the three months to 30 September, while EBITDA increased by 0.6% to $962 million. Service revenue was also up 0.6%, coming in at $2.29 billion.
Pakistan and Ukraine turned in strong performances, reporting revenue of $368 million and $155 million respectively, up by 17% and 9% respectively on an organic basis. VimpelCom attributed the performance to the strong uptake of mobile data services.
Meanwhile, revenue in Russia, VimpelCom’s largest market, was down 5% to $1.1 billion. Algeria saw the sharpest decline though, with revenue shrinking 13% to $264 million.
On a reported basis, VimpelCom’s group revenue and service revenue both fell 3%, while EBITDA fell 5%. Net profit attributable to shareholders came in at $445 million.
VimpelCom ended September with 205.5 million mobile customers, up from 195.4 million a year ago. Its fixed-line customer base fell to 2.2 million from 3.4 million.
"We remain on track to achieve our financial targets for the full year, although at the lower range for service revenue and underlying EBITDA margin," said VimpelCom CEO Jean-Yves Charlier, in a statement.
For 2016, VimpelCom expects service revenue growth to be flat or up slightly on an organic basis, while its EBITDA margin is expected to be flat or up by a single percentage point.
