2002 was a landmark year, thanks to the close of the merger and significantly increased margins in mobile operations

February 19, 2003

2 Min Read

HELSINKI and STOCKHOLM -- The Year in Brief:

  • Merger of Telia and Sonera completed in December 2002.

  • Net sales in level with previous year. Telia and Sonera stand alone net sales increased 5% and 6% for comparable units, respectively.

  • Underlying EBITDA increased to MSEK 24,573 (21,768), margin increased to 30.3% (26.9).

  • Strong free cash flow of MSEK 8,939 (-7,008).

  • Strong mobile growth and improved profitability in all Nordic markets.

  • Record high margins of 50% in Swedish (Q4) and Finnish (full year) mobile operations.

  • Strong growth in mobile operations in Fintur, Turkcell and MegaFon.

  • Swedish fixed network operations report high 37.4% (36.5) underlying EBITDA margin, despite decrease in revenues.

  • Costs totaling MSEK 53,278 for restructuring and streamlining efforts, primarily within international 3G operations, International Carrier, and the Danish fixed network operations impacted operating income which fell to MSEK -46,859 (9,586). Underlying operating income increased to msek 6,419 (-1,514).

  • Dividend is proposed to increase to SEK 0.40 per share (total of SEK 0.20), reflecting the intention in the new policy to increase dividend annually

Comments from Anders Igel, President and CEO of TeliaSonera: "We closed 2002 with the successful merger of two strong businesses and with significantly increased margins within the mobile operations across the Nordic area and the fixed services in Sweden." "We also took the necessary steps to remedy underperforming operations in International Carrier, Denmark, and Group 3G by restructuring those businesses. While the substantial write-downs explain negative impacts to income, the steps we took allow us to focus on integration into one company with better opportunities to develop strong underlying performance across all operations." "Going forward, customer orientation aimed at revenue generation and conscious efforts to produce competitive cost levels put TeliaSonera in position to produce opportunities for future cash flow and profit improvements." TeliaSonera AB

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