The Board of Telia Lietuva, AB (hereinafter “Telia Lietuva” or “the Company”) approved unaudited Telia Lietuva, AB Consolidated Interim Financial Statements, prepared according to International Financial Reporting Standards as adopted by the European Union, for the twelve months’ period ended 31 December 2019.
Fourth quarter of 2019*:
- Total revenue amounted to EUR 107 million, an increase by 10.5 per cent over the revenue of EUR 96.8 million in the fourth quarter of 2018.
- EBITDA, excluding non-recurring items, was EUR 34.6 million, an increase by 4.5 per cent over EBITDA, excluding non-recurring items, of EUR 33.1 million in the fourth quarter of 2018. Excluding the positive impact from IFRS 16, comparable EBITDA, excluding non-recurring items, fell 1.8 per cent.
- Profit for the period was EUR 17 million, up by 25.6 per cent over the profit of EUR 13.5 million a year ago.
Twelve months of 2019*:
- Total revenue amounted to EUR 388.3 million, an increase by 3.1 per cent over the revenue of EUR 376.5 million for the twelve months of 2018.
- EBITDA, excluding non-recurring items, was EUR 131 million, an increase by 1.8 per cent over EBITDA, excluding non-recurring items, of EUR 128.7 million for January-December of 2018. Excluding the positive impact from IFRS 16, comparable EBITDA, excluding non-recurring items, fell 4.2 per cent.
- Profit for the period was almost the same as a year ago and amounted to EUR 54.7 million.
- Free cash flow amounted to EUR 59.9 million, an increase by 19.3 per cent over free cash flow of EUR 50.2 million a year ago.
Management comment:
The Company finished the year 2019 at high note: the fourth quarter revenue exceeded EUR 100 million for a second quarter in a row. Higher volumes of voice transit in combination with continuously growing revenue from mobile communication, television, IT and equipment sales, contributed to the increase in total revenue during the fourth quarter of 2019. On the other hand, we have a natural decline in traditional fixed voice telephony and for a second year are observing decline in revenue for fixed Internet service due to contracting ARPU despite intake of new Internet users.
The boost in revenue from smart TV service is primarily attributed to quality of service and exclusive content provided by HBO and TVPlay Premium. From December, with the launch of Telia Play, a TV on the go service developed in cooperation with Telia Group, our smart TV became available on any device, anytime and anywhere.
Our ongoing investments, that in 2019 amounted to EUR 52.7 million, ensure that we meet the growing demand for mobile data and provide the highest mobile data transmission speed in the country up to 76.22 Mbps.
Despite fierce competition and saturation of some market segments, during January-December of 2019:
- number of FTTH Internet customers grew by 6.5 per cent up to 295 thousand,
- number of IPTV users increased by 6.1 per cent up to 244 thousand,
- number converged offer “Telia One” users almost doubled up to 60 thousand.
Successful fourth quarter of 2019 strongly contributed that for the full year of 2019 compared with the year 2018:
- revenue from TV services grew by 18.1 per cent,
- revenue from equipment sales went up by 13.5 per cent,
- revenue from IT services increased by 11 per cent,
- revenue from billed mobile services was up by 5.7 per cent.
Even though EBITDA in absolute numbers went up, increasing costs put pressure on profitability margins and that requires additional efficiency improvement measures. Profitability margins in 2019 were slightly lower than in 2018.
Pursuing our strategic Excellence in Digitalisation goal in November we employed artificial intelligence and launched a chatbot, an assistant robot which automatically provides responses to customer inquiries at our website. Our robot called Aita (Artificial Intelligent Telia Assistant) is a pioneer in AI use for customer care in Lithuanian telco industry. Also, for better customer experience and convenience we have started an upgrade of our customer service outlets.
From 1 January 2020, Telia Lietuva established a new Digitalization and Analytics Unit and together with Telia teams in Estonia, Denmark and Norway embraced the New Operating Model, which will provide companies of Telia Company Group with more synergy and efficiency.
Note: * Introduction of IFRS 16 “Leases” from 1 January 2019 influenced the financial statements for 2019. Comparative information for 2018 has not been restated.
ENCL.:
- Telia Lietuva, AB Consolidated Interim Financial Statements for the twelve months’ period ended 31 December 2019.
- Presentation of Telia Lietuva, AB Group Results for 12 months of 2019
Darius Džiaugys,
Head of Investor Relations,
tel. +370 5 236 7878,
e-mail: darius.dziaugys@telia.lt
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