Telecom Lead India: Sistema will focus on resolving the issues surrounding Indian telecom operations, said Mikhail Shamolin, president and chief executive officer of Sistema, after announcing the company’s second quarter results.
“Auction prices announced by the regulator are unjustifiably high and no decision on auction participation will be taken until our case is heard in our Curative Petition to the Supreme Court,” Shamolin added.
Sistema revenue was down by 6.3 percent YoY to US$ 8.1billion in the second quarter ended June 30, 2012, primarily due to rouble depreciation against the US dollar by 10.8 percent Y-o-Y. The Group’s revenue in rouble terms was up 3.9 percent Y-o-Y due to a stable growth in MTS.
“In the reporting quarter MTS has delivered excellent profitability with margins excluding one-off increasing to 44.4 percent year-on-year as the company continued to benefit from its focused strategy and growth in voice and data products,” said Mikhail Shamolin, president and chief executive officer of Sistema.
“Similar operational momentum was maintained in Bashneft, which increased production by 2 percent year-on-year and optimized its downstream sales, which helped mitigate some of the impact from softer oil prices and higher export duty in the second quarter,” Shamolin added.
OIBDA for the quarter was down by 7.4 percent YoY in dollars terms but increased by 2.9 percent Y-o-Y in rouble terms. The Group’s OIBDA margin without the one-off was 25.1 percent in Q2 2012, vs 25.4 percent in Q2 2011.
Operating income without one-off down 7.2 percent YoY to US$ 1.2 billion, with an operating margin of 15.2 percent. The net income attributable to Sistema without the one-off grew by 22.8 percent year-on-year in Q2 2012, as a result of a reduction in the Group’s administrative and depreciation expenses.
During the quarter, Sistema started a US$ 300 million buyback program in respect of Sistema’s Global Depository Receipts and ordinary shares. The Company spent approximately US$ 100 million during this period.
The company also elected three new members to the Board of Directors – Brian Dickie, Jeannot Krecké and Marc Holtzman.
Sistema is in the process of realizing some of the deals in a number of sectors.
MTS India Q2 revenue up 2.6% to INR 4,177 million
MTS India posted 2.6 percent increase in revenue q-o-q to INR 4,177 million in the second quarter ended June 30, 2012. On y-o-y revenues grew 50 percent.
The revenue growth was driven by 41 percent increase in subscriber base over Q2 2011. Its subscriber base grew by 4.9 percent to 16.60 million during the quarter.
