TeliaSonera’s (OMX: TLSN) Q4 went pretty much as you could expect. Net sales were up by 2.1% in local currencies to 27,123 million Swedish kronor. Fourth quarter EBITDA, excluding non-recurring items and acquisitions, increased by 3.2% in local currencies compared to the corresponding period in 2010. Net income and earnings per share were down slightly to 4,972 million and 1.15 SEK.
Higher CAPEX lead and lower income from associated companies led to a sizeable decrease in free cash flow to mere 523 million SEK. Full year free cash flow was around 9.6 billion SEK. TeliaSonera’s board is proposing a dividend hike of about 3.6% to 2.85 SEK per share, totalling 12.3 billion SEK, which is 68% of net income. The company targets to maintain investment grade long-term credit rating. Ordinary dividend shall be at least 50% of net income attributable to the owners.
TeliaSonera also announced completion of the first phase of previously announecd GSM Kazakhstan LLP (Kcell) transaction as it acquired a 49% stake in the company for a price of 1.519 billion USD. The IPO process has also been initiated and is expected to be completed in 2012. Currently KCell is owned by Fintur Holdings (51%) and TeliaSonera (49%). TeliaSonera has a majority in Fintuer. After both phases of the transaction are completed, TeliaSonera will have 61.9% effective ownership in Kcell.
Overall the numbers from 2011 were pretty close to the outlook the company gave before but perhaps slightly on the low side. Fiber roll-out and 4G expansion are the reasons for higher CAPEX as the company seeks ways to maintain long-term competitive edge. The outlook for 2012 is net sales growth of 1-2% EBITDA margin to remain in 2011 level (35.4%) and CAPEX-to-sales ratio between 13-14%.
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