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Megafon OIBDA flat, revenues up 10.6% in Q1
2014-05-29 12:35:00| Telecompaper Headlines
(Telecompaper) Russian operator Megafon reported first-quarter OIBDA little changed year-on-year, at RUB 32.50 billion, due to extra costs for the Olympics in Sochi, higher sales of low-margin handsets and the weaker ruble. Revenues were up 10.6 percent from a year ago to RUB 74.88 billion, driven by a 45 percent increase in data revenue to RUB 16.17 billion. Mobile service revenues were up 8.6 percent to RUB 64.72 billion, helped by the takeover of Scartel and a 7.5 percent annual increase in the customer base. Fixed-line revenues rose 17.1 percent to RUB 5.29 billion, helped by the Dream wholesale project, and equipment sales were up 35.1 percent to RUB 4.86 billion, driven by the operator's own white-label devices. Megafon's net profit fell 42.7 percent year-on-year to RUB 7.23 billion, hurt by forex losses and higher depreciation and amortisation from the Scartel takeover. Capital expenditure doubled compared to the year-ago period to RUB 8.35 billion due to the continued expansion of the LTE network and upgrade of 3G services. As a result, free cash flow decreased by 40.7 percent to RUB 13.55 billion. Megafon maintained its full-year outlook for revenue growth of 6-8 percent and an OIBDA margin of at least 44 percent. Capital spending is estimated at RUB 58-64 billion for 2014. The company said it was also planning to start paying interim dividends.
Tags: flat
revenues
q1
megafon
Category:Telecommunications