Telenor reported a fall in first-quarter results, hurt by the unrest in Myanmar. Revenues fell 1.6 percent year-on-year on an organic basis to NOK 28.9 billion, and adjusted EBITDA dropped 2.2 percent to NOK 13.0 billion. After writing off the entire value of its Myanmar business, at NOK 6.5 billion, the company was left with a net loss of NOK 3.9 billion, versus a profit of NOK 698 million a year ago.
Excluding the Myanmar business, Telenor said it still expects to achieve its full-year outlook for stable subscription and traffic revenues on an organic basis. In the first quarter, these fell 4.0 percent to NOK 21.7 billion. The number of customers continued to grow, up by 5 million in the quarter including 2 million in Myanmar, to a total of 187 million at the end of March.
The other operations in Asia remain under pressure from the coronavirus pandemic, with new outbreaks in Pakistan, Bangladesh and Thailand and a sharp reduction in tourism. Relief efforts from the government have helped boost usage in Thailand and Malaysia, Telenor said, and telecoms usage in the Nordic markets also is largely unaffected by the ongoing virus-related restrictions, apart from the drop in roaming. Subscription and traffic revenues increased in Finland and Denmark in Q1 and were almost stable in Norway, while Myanmar led the decline in the other countries, with a 19 percent fall, and Sweden was down 6 percent due to lower roaming and price pressure.
The drop in operating costs continued in the quarter, with a reduction of NOK 1.1 billion in reported opex. On a currency adjusted basis, opex decreased by NOK 0.7 billion, or 7 percent.
Free cash flow totaled NOK 3.8 billion, little changed year-on-year.
