Telenor: Solid start to the year, attracting 2.3 million new customers

(Fornebu, 30 April 2019) "The results for the first quarter 2019 reaffirm our efforts and ability to attract new customers, create value and modernise Telenor. The operational and financial performance was in line with our expectations.

In Norway, we continue to roll out fibre to our customers resulting in 20 per cent growth in fibre revenues, and mobile subscription and traffic revenues increased by two per cent. In Emerging Asia, we see improvements across all our markets as the appetite for data keeps increasing. The growth momentum in Bangladesh and Pakistan continued, and I'm pleased to see that we have stabilised revenues, and returned to solid subscriber growth in Myanmar, adding more than one million customers during the quarter. In Developed Asia, the prepaid segment remained under pressure. However, we are improving our network position in Thailand, which will enable us to deliver top data services to our customers going forward.

Over the past two years we have step-by-step executed on our ambitions of modernisation and value creation through digital transformation, which has resulted in a simpler and more efficient Telenor. This month, we announced another step towards executing on our strategic agenda, by entering the Finnish market, and thereby strengthening our position in the Nordic region," said Sigve Brekke, Telenor Group Chief Executive Officer.

KEY FIGURES TELENOR GROUP

Key figures (NOK in millions)	First quarter 2019	First quarter 2018	Year 2018	First quarter 2019 IFRS16
Revenues	27 709	27 150	110 362	27 644
Organic revenue growth (%)	0.3	(1.5)	(0.6)
Subscription and traffic revenues	21 443	21 015	84 825	21 443
Organic subscription and traffic revenues growth (%)	0.0	1.0	0.2
EBITDA before other income and expenses	11 175	11 340	45 451	12 425
Organic EBITDA growth (%)	(3.5)	10.0	3.2
EBITDA before other income and expenses/Revenues (%)	40.3	41.8	41.2	44.9
Net income attributable to equity holders of Telenor ASA	3 882	4 992	14 731	3 833
Capex excluding licenses and spectrum	4 043	3 068	16 776
Total capex	4 043	4 687	31 245
Free cash flow	2 453	2 575	31 989
Mobile subscriptions - change in quarter /total (mill)	2.3	1.7	174

First quarter 2019 summary

• Subscription and traffic revenues remained stable in the first quarter on an organic basis. Total reported revenues were NOK 27.7 billion, which is an increase of 2%.
• Currency adjusted gross profit declined by NOK 0.5 billion in the quarter, while reported gross profit declined by NOK 0.1 billion.
• On a currency adjusted basis, opex decreased by NOK 0.1 billion, or 1%. Reported opex increased by NOK 0.1 billion or 1%.
• EBITDA before other items was NOK 11.2 billion with an EBITDA margin of 40%, 1 percentage point below last year. EBITDA declined by 3% on an organic basis.
• Net income attributable to equity holders of Telenor ASA was NOK 3.9 billion, or NOK 2.66 per share in the quarter.
• Capex excluding licences and spectrum was NOK 4.0 billion, resulting in a capex to sales ratio of 15%.
• Free cash flow for the quarter was NOK 2.5 billion.

Outlook for 2019

• For the Group excluding our Thai operation dtac, we maintain our guiding of an organic subscription and traffic revenue growth of 0-2% and organic EBITDA growth of 1-3%. Capex excluding licences and spectrum is expected to be in the range of NOK 16-17 billion, including the operation in Thailand. Dtac will provide an outlook for 2019 in June, and Thailand will be included in the Group's revenue and EBITDA guiding from the second quarter onwards.

Media Contact
Meera Bhatia, mobile: [phone], [e-mail]

Investor Relations Contacts
Marianne Moe, mobile: [phone], [e-mail]
Håkon Hatlevik, mobile [phone], [e-mail]

Press and analyst presentation
In connection with the publication of the financial results, a press and analyst conference will be held on Tuesday 30 April at 09:00 hrs Norwegian time/CET. The presentation, which will also be broadcast live via webcast, will be held in Auditorium Voice, Telenor Expo Visitor Centre at Fornebu near Oslo. CEO Sigve Brekke and CFO Jørgen C. Arentz Rostrup will present the results. The presentation will be held in English.

You may also call in and listen to the presentation over the phone. This service allows you to ask questions during the Q&A session at the end of the presentation. To participate in the conference call, please register before the conference starts by calling:

+ 47 2350 0296 (local Norway)
[phone] (local Sweden)
[phone] (local UK)
[phone] (local US)
Please state confirmation code 2788295, your name and company to the operator. For the Q&A session: to queue up for questions please press *1

Material
The quarterly report and the presentation are available here
https://www.telenor.com/investors/reports/2019/telenor-groups-results-for-the-1st-quarter-2019/ (https://www.telenor.com/investors/reports/2019/telenor-groups-results-for-the-1st-quarter-2019/)

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Source: Telenor via Globenewswire