Russia’s MegaFon IFRS net profit halves to 6 bln rbl in Jul–Sep

MOSCOW, Nov 9 (PRIME) -- The net profit of Russian mobile operator MegaFon decreased 52.3% on the year to 6.346 billion rubles in July–September, as calculated under International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS), the company said Wednesday in a report.

Consolidated revenue decreased 0.2% to 81.115 billion rubles. Revenue from wireless data services increased 0.5% to 21.734 billion rubles.

Operating income before depreciation and amortization (OIBDA) plunged 10.7% to 32.285 billion rubles. OIBDA margin slipped 4.7 percentage points on the year to 39.8%.

Capital expenditures decreased 55% to 11.671 billion rubles.

“In the third quarter, the Russian telecommunications industry continued to experience tough market conditions caused by increased competition and changes in consumer demand. Given these circumstances we were comfortable with the relatively insignificant 0.2% decrease on the year in total consolidated revenue,” MegaFon CEO Sergei Soldatenkov said.

“We see the continued trend of a shift in our revenue structure towards an increasing share of revenue from sales of equipment. However, we expect that these increased sales of equipment will translate into greater demand for mobile data services in the future.”

In January–September, the net profit fell 33.5% on the year to 22.417 billion rubles. Consolidated revenue increased 1.5% to 234.988 billion rubles. Revenue from wireless data services increased 7% to 63.069 billion rubles.

OIBDA decreased 10.5% to 92.086 billion rubles. OIBDA margin contracted 5.2 percentage points to 39.2%.

Capital expenditures fell 16.5% to 38.862 billion rubles.

MegaFon’s net debt was at 190.207 billion rubles as of September 30.

The number of mobile subscribers grew 1.8% to 77.3 million as of the end of September.

(63.7364 rubles – U.S. $1)

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