Telenor Lifts Dividend Despite Drop in Net Profit

   By Dominic Chopping

Norwegian telecom provider Telenor ASA (TEL.OS) on Wednesday raised its full-year dividend despite posting a drop in fourth-quarter net profit after a legal dispute and currency losses weighed.

Telenor posted net profit for the period of 1.21 billion Norwegian kroner ($142.3 million) from NOK2.23 billion in the same period a year earlier. Revenue rose to NOK28.14 billion from NOK28.68 billion, while the earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortization margin slipped to 36.7% from 37.7%.

Analysts polled by FactSet had expected net profit of NOK2.77 billion and revenue of NOK28.36 billion.

During the fourth quarter, Telenor's Thai subsidiary dtac agreed to pay Thailand's state-owned telecom company CAT Telecom Public Company Limited 9.51 billion Thai baht ($301 million) to settle legal disputes, mostly over differences in interpretation of the concession agreement.

Telenor declared an annual dividend of NOK8.40 a share, up from NOK8.10 last year. It also resolved to revise the company's financial policy and introduce a leverage target of 1.5 times-2.0 times net debt/Ebitda while also intending to initiate a new share buyback program of up to 3% of the registered shares.

Telenor said it added 800,000 new mobile subscribers to its networks during the quarter. It added 1.3 million in Bangladesh and 600,000 in Pakistan, partly offsetting a subscription loss of 800,000 in Myanmar and 100,000 in both Malaysia and Thailand. Total mobile subscriptions totaled 174 million.

Chief Executive Sigve Brekke said: "The last six months in Myanmar and Thailand have been challenging and negatively impacted our fourth quarter results. Returning to growth in these markets will be a top priority for us this year."

Telenor expects organic subscription and traffic growth in 2019, excluding its Thai operation, of 0% to 2%, and organic Ebitda growth of 1%-3%. Capital expenditure excluding spectrum licenses is seen at NOK16 billion to NOK17 billion.

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

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

January 30, 2019 03:02 ET (08:02 GMT)

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