Tele2 reported net sales of SEK 9.998 billion for the second quarter, down 5 percent from a year earlier. EBITDA improved to SEK 2.711 from SEK 2.687 billion a year ago, and the margin was stable at 27 percent. EBITDA included SEK 48 million in restructuring charges in the Netherlands for the integration of the BBned acquisition. Excluding exchange rate effects and one-off items, sales were up 6 percent and EBITDA rose 7 percent, the company said. Net profit fell 33 percent to SEK 1.108 billion or SEK 2.49 per share, due to a one-time gain in the year-earlier period for a legal settlement. Tele2 added a net 1.052 million new customers in the quarter, for a total 32.39 million at the end of June. Of the total net adds, 1.22 million came in mobile services, and of these 18,000 took mobile broadband services. The mobile growth was led by Russia, with a net gain of 720,000 customers, and Kazakhstan, which added 355,000 customers after the launch of the Tele2 brand and new prices there. The fixed broadband base fell by 15,000 customers, primarily attributable to Tele2's operations in the Netherlands and in Sweden, and the number of fixed telephony customers fell by 153,000 in Q2. Tele2's capex jumped to SEK 1.462 billion in the three months, from SEK 793 million a year ago, while cash flow fell to SEK 943 million from SEK 2.013 billion. For the full year, the company forecast capex of a maximum SEK 5.5 billion. Tele2 slightly lowered it sales growth outlook for Sweden, but improved the subscriber and EBITDA growth outlook for Russia in 2011.
