TeliaSonera boosts profit in Q3

Swedish carrier TeliaSonera’s recent cost cutting drive has resulted in a 5.7% rise in Q3 net profit.
 
Sales on the quarter increased by 4.8% to SEK 27.1 billion (€2.6 billion), while net income rose to SEK 5 billion. TeliaSonera has been curbing expenditure to cope with market forces and over the last nine months had shed and 1,100 jobs in Sweden and Finland.
 
“We are making steady progress in our efforts to reduce structural costs,” said TeliaSonera CEO Lars Nyberg. “We remain committed that our ebitda margin for 2009 will be higher than last year and we continue to scrutinize ways to preserve a strong free cash flow generation.” Ebitda rose 8.5% to SEK 9.76 million.
 
The carrier attributed the boost in sales to exchange-rate movements. Net sales in local currencies, and excluding acquisitions, were unchanged from a year earlier. On the downside, income from Russian subsidiary MegaFon was hit by a weakening ruble against the Swedish krona.
 
Subscriptions during the quarter grew by 4.2 million, of which 1.4 million new subscriptions in the majority-owned operations and 2.8 million in the associated companies, totaling 143.9 million.
 
During the quarter the carrier increased ownership in Estonia’s Eesti Telekom and TEO in Lithuania from 60% to approximately 98% and 65% respectively.