Telia, the Swedish multinational telco, has reported that Q1 revenue increased 3.5 per cent to SEK 20.03 billion (€1.83bn) and like for like, revenue increased 3.3 per cent. Service revenue increased 1.9 per cent to SEK 17.03 billion and like for like, service revenue increased 1.8 per cent.

Operating income increased 36.4 per cent to SEK 3,602 million. Total net income declined to SEK 692 million and total EPS declined to 0.13 SEK, as increased operating income in continuing operations was more than offset by negative net income from discontinued operations following a non-cash impairment.

Patrik Hofbauer President & CEO, commented: “The first full quarter of our country-led operating model has been encouraging. Overall, our business performed according to expectations, with service revenue growth of 1.8 per cent and EBITDA growth of 6.7 per cent. This excludes TV and Media, which we agreed to divest to Schibsted Media, in line with our focus on our core telecom business. We are fully determined to get the most from our new set-up, and from Telia’s unique position as a trusted and sustainable partner for our customers.”

Looking across the company’s commercial progress, Hofbauer said: “In Sweden, consumer trends were stable, with fibre broadband and TV again driving growth, as we pursue our convergent household strategy. In Enterprise, we are seeing early signs of improvement in customer activity, although it remains to be seen if this translates into new orders, given the ongoing macroeconomic uncertainty. EBITDA growth accelerated on the back of cost efficiencies resulting from the change programme launched in September 2024.”

“In Finland, we are continuing to simplify the business by ramping down non-core activities. Combined with a generally weak macroeconomic environment, this resulted in a decline in service revenue in the quarter. The mobile subscriber losses in Consumer continued, but at a slightly reduced rate compared with the same period last year. Meanwhile, our focus on SMEs resulted in positive subscriber growth in this segment. Cost efficiencies from the change programme resulted in lower resource costs and EBITDA growth of 6 per cent.”

“While the business development in Norway remains challenging, it was stable overall in the quarter, albeit with small declines in service revenue and EBITDA owing to headwinds in our broadband and TV business. We are making both network and customer-facing investments to improve these trends, while strengthening our commercial strategy as well as scrutinising further cost-reduction opportunities. Service revenue and EBITDA are both expected to decline further in 2025 before improving, owing in part to the expiry of a mobile wholesale contract.”

“Lithuania continues to show solid growth across mobile and fixed, partly helped by the success of a Netflix offering launched in the quarter. Combined with effective cost control, this resulted in double-digit EBITDA growth.”

“Estonia had a similarly solid development, including strong growth in public sector IT deliveries, resulting in mid-single digit growth in both service revenue and EBITDA.”

“Telia Towers is now a separately disclosed business no longer organised under Telia Sweden, Norway and Finland. Since Telia Towers was formed in partnership with Alecta and Brookfield in 2021, it has developed well. Today, it has EBITDA of close to SEK 1.5 billion, and approximately half of its revenue comes from external customers.”

Financial progress 

“We are executing in line with our financial plan for the year, having adjusted our free cash flow target in February to around SEK 7.5 billion to reflect the divestment of TV and Media. Our balance sheet strengthened to a leverage of 2.18x, down from 2.28x at the end of 2024, and is expected to strengthen further when the TV and Media transaction closes in Q3 at the latest.”

Looking ahead 

“After the end of the quarter, uncertainty and volatility increased in financial markets and international trade following the proposed US tariffs. While European telecoms is not one of the sectors most exposed to these proposals, our business has interdependencies with global supply chains, FX rates and overall economic growth in our region. We are monitoring the situation closely, while focusing on what we can control and on the continued execution of our strategic plan.”

“With current visibility, our full-year financial outlook is unchanged, including service revenue growth of around 2 per cent and EBITDA growth of at least 5 per cent, as well as free cash flow of around SEK 7.5 billion. In line with our previous forecasts, service revenue growth is still expected to be somewhat lower in the first half of the year than in the second half. As for the EBITDA growth profile, we expect it to be tilted towards Q4, with somewhat lower growth in Q2 and Q3. I am pleased to see how well our Telia colleagues have delivered throughout a period of change, and the high level of customer focus across our organisation. I want to thank all our people and external stakeholders for their ongoing support, which will be invaluable as we continue to evolve our business and deliver on our commitments,” he concldued.

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Categories: Articles, Business, Results, Telco

Tags: estonia, Norway, sweden, telco, telia