Telia Company Net Profit Falls on Hefty Impairments

By Dominic Chopping

STOCKHOLM--Nordic telecommunications operator Telia Company AB (TELIA.SK) said Friday its fourth-quarter net profit fell on year after booking hefty impairments as it continues to exit legacy markets and transition to a pure-play Nordic and Baltic operator.

Telia posted fourth-quarter net profit of 754 million Swedish kronor ($95.4 million) compared with SEK7.34 billion in the year before. A FactSet analyst forecast had expected a profit of SEK2.8 billion.

Sales totaled SEK21.19 billion, little-changed from SEK21.13 billion last year, but above estimates.

The company is in the process of divesting or liquidating its assets in Eurasia and SEK3.85 billion of impairments announced on Friday relate to revaluations of these discontinued assets. As part of these plans, the company announced separately Friday that Fintur Holdings, jointly owned by Telia Company and Turkcell Musteri Hizmetleri (TKC), has agreed to sell its entire holding in Geocell to Georgian telecommunications company JSC Silknet for $153 million.

"The revenue decline in legacy products and the pressure within some enterprise segments remain," said Telia Chief Executive Johan Dennelind.

"Our outlook for 2018 implies an operational free cash flow, from continuing operations, to be around the 2017 level. The Adjusted Ebitda from continuing operations based on current structure, is expected to be in line or slightly above the 2017 level."

The number of subscriptions declined to 23.1 million at Dec. 31, 2017 from 23.4 million at the end of the fourth quarter of 2016.

The company announced an increased dividend of SEK2.30 a share, up from SEK2.00 last year and Telia added that the operational free cash flow together with dividends from associated companies should cover a dividend around the 2017 level.

Write to Dominic Chopping at dominic.chopping@wsj.com; Twitter: @domchopping @WSJNordics

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

January 26, 2018 02:46 ET (07:46 GMT)

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