VimpelCom Announces Third Quarter 2009 Financial and Operating Results
24 Nov 2009
Moscow and New York (November 24, 2009) - Open Joint Stock Company “Vimpel-Communications” (“VimpelCom” or the “Company”) (NYSE: VIP),a leading international provider of telecommunications services operating in Russia, the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) and South-East Asia, today announced its financial and operating results for the quarter ended September 30, 2009.
Third Quarter 2009 Highlights and Recent Developments
Operational
• Mobile subscribers increased by 1.7 million versus 2Q09, reaching 65.4 million
• Successful launch of operations in Vietnam under Beeline brand
• Agreement signed to enter Laos mobile market
• 3G presence in all regions of Russia as of November 21, 2009
Financial
• Net operating revenues reached 71.3 billion Russian rubles, an increase of 3.3% versus 2Q09
• OIBDA reached a record 36.0 billion rubles, an increase of 2.9% versus 2Q09
• Continued strong consolidated fixed and mobile OIBDA margin of 50.4%
• Net income attributable to VimpelCom amounted to 13.5 billion rubles
Other
• Interim dividend payment of 190.13 rubles per common share proposed by the Board of Directors
• Major shareholders agreed to combine their stakes in VimpelCom and Kyivstar in a new company
Commenting on the performance of the Company, Boris Nemsic, Chief Executive Officer of VimpelCom, said, “During the third quarter we continued to demonstrate growth in challenging market conditions and delivered a record 71.3 billion rubles in revenues and 36.0 billion rubles in OIBDA with a consolidated fixed and mobile OIBDA margin of 50.4%. We are particularly pleased with the OIBDA performance which demonstrates our ability to increase revenues and control costs in the new economic environment.
The number of active mobile subscribers reached 65.4 million, which is 13% more than we had a year ago. We serve 1.9 million fixed and mobile broadband subscribers, which makes us one of the largest broadband providers in Russia and the CIS.
Stable operational cash flow strengthened our financial position. As of today, we have repaid more than US $2 billion dollars of our debt and fully funded capital expenditures. We continue to optimize our debt portfolio with the non-ruble portion of our debt decreasing to 76% of our total debt, compared with 85% at the beginning of the year.
On October 5th, 2009, Altimo and Telenor agreed to combine their interests in VimpelCom and Kyivstar, paving the way for the creation of one of the largest telecom operators in the emerging markets. Management of VimpelCom welcomes this transaction and believes that the transaction, when completed, will bring benefits to our shareholders, employees and customers”.
*The average exchange rate for the quarter ended September 30, 2009 was 31.3 RUR/US $
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