Telenor report released

Telenor (OSE: TEL) reported second quarter earnings this morning. Revenue grew by 5% to 25 357 million NOK, EBITDA before other income & expenses topped 8 billion and adjusted operating profit came in close to 4.5 billion. Performance in Europe was uneven, with 22K of subscribers added in Norway, even faster growth in Sweden and Serbia but tough competition and price pressure in Denmark and new tax scheme in Hungary and Montenegro

The operations in India suffering from political backlash following a high-profile corruption case before Telenor was involved continue to sour the mood. There is still no clarity on what will happen in regards to the conditions and timing of the new 2G licenses auction following the sudden cancellation of licenses earlier this year. Telenor is restructuring operations targeting self-financing operations by the end of 2013. Uninor will focus on 9 most profitable circles during this ”challenging” period, suggesting it might only bid for a few licenses.

VimpelCom saga in Russia is still unresolved as well but Telenor is taking a long-term perspective to grow revenues and margins. Excluding Uninor, Telenor expects organic revenue growth above 4%, EBITDA margin of 35-36% and CAPEX. A new multi-billion share buyback programme of up to 3% of shares is being started. Newspaper dn.no writes that analysts had been expecting slightly better profits.