ELISA CORPORATION HALF YEAR FINANCIAL REPORT RELEASE 14 JULY 2017 AT 8:30 AM
Second quarter 2017
- Revenue amounted to EUR 445 million (393)
- EBITDA was EUR 148 million (134) and EBIT was EUR 88 million (81)
- Comparable EBITDA was EUR 151 million (134) and EBIT EUR 92 million (81)
- Profit before tax was EUR 129 million (75) and comparable profit before tax excluding sale of Comptel shares was EUR 87 million (75)
- Earnings per share were EUR 0.70 (0.38) and comparable EPS EUR 0.44 (0.38)
- Cash flow after investments was EUR 76 million (69)
- Mobile ARPU grew to EUR 17.7 (17.2 in previous quarter)
- Mobile churn decreased to 18.2 per cent (18.5 in previous quarter)
- Mobile service revenue increased by 5.6 per cent to EUR 200 million (190)
- The number of Elisa’s mobile subscriptions increased by 29,000 during the quarter
- Fixed broadband base increased during the quarter by 97,800, of which 900 in Finland
- Net debt / EBITDA was 2.1 (2.0 end 2016) and gearing 140 per cent (116 end 2016)
January–June 2017
- Revenue was EUR 861 million (783)
- EBITDA was EUR 291 million (270), EBIT EUR 177 million (165)
- Comparable EBITDA was EUR 294 million (270) and EBIT EUR 180 million (165)
- Profit before tax: EUR 213 million (153) and comparable profit before tax EUR 171 million
- Earnings per share grew to EUR 1.13 (0.77) and comparable EPS to EUR 0.87
- Cash flow after investments was EUR 139 million (133)
- Acquisitions of Starman and Santa Monica Networks were completed in April 2017
Key indicators
| EUR million | 4-6/2017 | 4-6/2016 | Δ % | 1-6/2017 | 1-6/2016 | Δ % |
| Revenue | 445 | 393 | 13.3 | 861 | 783 | 10.0 |
| EBITDA | 148 | 134 | 10.4 | 291 | 270 | 7.8 |
| Comparable EBITDA | 151 | 134 | 12.7 | 294 | 270 | 8.9 |
| EBIT 1) | 88 | 81 | 9.2 | 177 | 165 | 7.3 |
| Profit before tax 1) | 129 | 75 | 70.9 | 213 | 153 | 39.4 |
| EPS, EUR 1) | 0.70 | 0.38 | 86.2 | 1.13 | 0.77 | 46.6 |
| Capital expenditure | 64 2) | 56 | 14.9 | 117 2) | 100 | 17.0 |
1) Comparable 4-6/2017: EBIT EUR 92m, profit before tax EUR 87m and EPS EUR 0.44. Comparable 1-6/2017: EBIT EUR 180m, profit before tax EUR 171m and EPS EUR 0.87. 2) Includes 2600 MHz license fee of EUR 4m.
Financial position and cash flow
| EUR million | 30 Jun 2017 | 30 Jun 2016 | End 2016 |
| Net debt | 1,231 | 1,054 | 1,124 |
| Net debt / EBITDA 1) | 2.1 | 1.9 | 2.0 |
| Gearing ratio, % | 140.0 | 127,5 | 115.7 |
| Equity ratio, % | 34.3 | 36.8 | 38.5 |
| EUR million | 4-6/2017 | 4-6/2016 | Δ % | 1-6/2017 | 1-6/2016 | Δ % |
| Cash flow after investments 2 ) | 76 | 69 | 10.5 | 139 | 133 | 4.6 |
1) (interest-bearing debt – financial assets) / (four previous quarters’ EBITDA exclusive of non-recurring items) 2) Excluding share investments of EUR 33m and sale of Comptel shares of EUR 44m 4-6/17 EUR 65m, 4-6/16 EUR 83m, 1-6/17 EUR 131m and 1-6/16 EUR 156m.
Additional key performance indicators are available at elisa.com/investors (Elisa Operational Data.xlsx)
CEO Veli-Matti Mattila: Strong result again and excellent increase in revenue
In the second quarter of the year, our revenue and earnings grew again year-on-year. The earnings growth was due to an increase in mobile revenue, the improvement of Elisa's operations, and to recent acquisitions. The strengthening of Elisa’s competitiveness continued through the continuous improvement of quality and operations.
The popularity of fast mobile broadband subscriptions among consumers, corporate customers and organisations is growing as smartphones are becoming increasingly integrated in people’s everyday lives. The mobile subscription base increased by 29,900 subscriptions during the quarter, while the fixed network broadband subscription base increased by 97,800. The base increased mainly due to the Starman acquisition and to growth in Finland. The usage of the unlimited mobile data subscriptions provided by Elisa will continue thanks to the wise Finnish implementation of new roaming regulation. Using mobile phones within the EU has now become considerably cheaper. The new subscription types offer unlimited data usage in the Nordic and Baltic countries and ample data usage in the other EU and EEA countries as well. The new subscription types have been well received, and data usage abroad has increased considerably.
Consumers have access to a more extensive offering of Elisa Viihde services. We recently announced the production of Arctic Circle , to date the largest original series by Elisa Viihde. This international production will be available on Elisa Viihde at the end of 2018. In addition, a novelty on Elisa Viihde is the original series Pää edellä . We also introduced the new Elisa Ohjaaja service, which enables consumers to use one number on several phones.
We are pursuing even better customer experience and testing new technologies in both our mobile and fixed networks. With Nokia, we were the first in Europe to test 5G technology on the 3.5 GHz bandwidth. The data speeds achieved in the tests were multiple times faster than those of the current commercial 4G networks. We were also the first in Finland to test a fibre optic network for households, which enables broadband speeds of up to 10 Gbps.
Elisa’s open development and service platform Elisa IoT intelligent factory solution was chosen for the European 4.0 Transformation Center project in Germany. The solution is used for developing production at the e.GO electric car factory by means of artificial intelligence and 3D visualisation.
Elisa was the only Finnish company to rank among the top ten companies in a recent survey conducted by Equileap to assess equality in the workplace. The survey covered management, career advancement, work-life balance and family leave, among other areas. Moreover, Elisa established a foundation with the goal of supporting music theatre activities that highlight diversity among children and youth.
We will continue our determined work to improve both customer satisfaction and our operational productivity. Improving our productivity, developing new services for our customers, and maintaining our strong investment ability will create a solid foundation for competitive operations in the future as well.
Outlook and guidance for 2017
The macroeconomic environment in Finland is improving but is still expected to stay behind the historical average. Competition in the Finnish telecommunications market also remains challenging.
Revenue is estimated to be higher than in 2016. Recent acquisitions, mobile data and digital services are expected to increase revenue. Comparable EBITDA is anticipated to be higher than in 2016. Capital expenditure is expected to be a maximum of 13 per cent of revenue while the mid-term target of a maximum of 12 per cent is still valid. Elisa’s financial position and liquidity are good.
Elisa is continuing its productivity improvement development, for example by increasing automation in different processes, such as network operations and delivery. Additionally, Elisa’s continuous quality improvement measures will increase customer satisfaction and efficiency, and reduce costs.
Elisa's transformation into a provider of exciting, new and relevant services for its customers is continuing. Long-term growth and profitability improvement will derive from mobile data market growth, as well as digital online and ICT services.
Disclosure procedure
Elisa is adopting the disclosure procedure enabled by the Standard 5.2b published by the Finnish Financial Supervision Authority. This is a summary of Elisa’s interim report January–June 2017 and the complete report is attached as a pdf-file to this release and is also available on our website at www.elisa.com/investors .
ELISA CORPORATION
Additional information: Mr. Veli-Matti Mattila, CEO, tel. +358 10 262 2635 Mr. Jari Kinnunen, CFO, tel. +358 10 262 9510 Mr. Vesa Sahivirta, IR Director, tel. +358 10 262 3036
Distribution: Nasdaq Helsinki Principal media www.elisa.com
