VEON says IFRS net income rises 15% to $138 mln in January–March

MOSCOW, Apr 29 (PRIME) -- The net income of Amsterdam-based VEON, the sole owner of Russian mobile operator VimpelCom, increased by 15.1% on the year to U.S. $138 million in January–March, as calculated under International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS), the company said on Thursday.

Revenue went down by 5.1% on the year to $1.989 billion. Mobile and fixed service revenue lost 6.3% to $1.853 billion, but mobile data revenue increased by 3.8% to $687 million.

Earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortization (EBITDA) contracted 4.9% to $875 million. The EBITDA margin added 0.1 percentage points to 44%.

Operational capital expenditures increased by 15.4% to $425 million.

The net debt widened to $8.325 billion from $7.741 billion in the same period of 2020.

The total number of mobile customers rose by 0.9% to 212.7 million.

“VEON increases its 2021 guidance to mid-single-digit revenue and EBITDA local currency growth, from low to mid-single-digit revenue and EBITDA local currency growth; capex intensity guidance for 2021 remains at 22–24%,” the company said.

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